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Humanism in Medicine Award
Yasmin S. Meah, M.D.
Mount Sinai School of Medicine
The Humanism in Medicine Award, sponsored by the Pfizer Medical
Humanities Initiative, honors a medical school faculty physician
who is a caring and compassionate mentor and a practitioner of patient-centered
care.
When her college art professor told her she wasn't "selfish enough"
to become an artist, Yasmin Meah was reluctant to lay aside her
canvas. But after deciding that "artful minds could be doctors as
well," she began a career in medicine that continues to unfold in
unexpected, but remarkable ways. Today, through her extraordinary
work as clinician, mentor, and patient advocate, Dr. Meah has painted
a unique portrait of the artist as a young doctor, and, as her students
attest, demonstrates through her every endeavor that medicine is
her calling.
The youngest recipient in the history of the Humanism in Medicine
Award, Dr. Meah is assistant professor of medicine at Mount Sinai
School of Medicine (MSSM) and director of student support services
within the MSSM Office of Student Affairs. She is also course director
of the United States Medical Licensing Examination™ (USMLE) Step
2 board review course, and founding faculty member and program director
of the East Harlem Health Outreach Partnership (EHHOP), a student-run
free clinic.
"I have learned to care for even the most difficult
and often profoundly bizarre situations with very little in
my doctor bag."
-Dr. Yasmin Meah |
Dr. Meah is also heavily involved in the MSSM Visiting Doctors
Program, which provides primary care to homebound patients-patients,
who, in Dr. Meah's words, are "incredibly difficult to manage medically,
ethically, psychologically, socially, and economically" and whose
family situations "make living in the community often a nightmare."
Remarkably, she continually finds ways to work around both the constraints
imposed by the health care system and the ones self-imposed by her
patients to obtain critically needed care. For example, in convincing
an agoraphobic patient (with anxiety and fear of public places)
with a life-threatening infection to visit a specialist, Dr. Meah
found a unique way to earn his trust: she organized a team meeting
of the patient and several health care professionals and had the
patient sign a contract affirming he was a valued and necessary
collaborator in his own care.
Dr. Meah's unique ability to combine sensitivity with creative
problem solving is also evidenced by the way she approached her
role as USMLE Step 2 review course director. By introducing a highly
interactive seminar format into the class, she transformed what
was once a lackluster course into one of the school's most successful
and popular electives. In the words of one student, "Because of
Dr. Meah, my USMLE score increased by 49 points and my confidence
as a future doctor flourished."
And because of a particular group of students in the class, teaching
the review course became a life-changing event for Dr. Meah. For
years, these students had been struggling to set up a student-run
free clinic in Harlem. When Dr. Meah learned of the legal and bureaucratic
issues standing in their way, she decided to make their mission
her mission. A year later, EHHOP opened its doors to East Harlem's
largely uninsured and immigrant population.
Today, in addition to providing care to nearly 300 residents in
one of New York's poorest neighborhoods, the program has inspired
numerous students to make community service part of their professional
lives. According to one student, "The program, like Dr. Meah, gives
excellent medical care, promotes altruism and humanism in medicine."
For Dr. Meah, EHHOP has enabled her to show students the value of
service; to imbue them with "an understanding of the injustices
of being poor, unemployed, and uninsured"; and to invigorate "even
the most jaded students in good doctoring at an early stage in their
careers."
A 1993 graduate of Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Meah earned her
M.D. at Harvard Medical School. She completed her internship and
residency in internal medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine,
serving as chief resident from 2001 to 2002. When not balancing
the simultaneous demands of teacher, doctor, mentor, wife and mother,
she sometimes has time to bring out her canvas.
Find out more about the Humanism
in Medicine Award, nominate a deserving individual, and view
a list of previous award recipients.
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