Dr. Marcelin among 2022-2023 Gold Humanism Scholars

UNMC’s Jasmine Marcelin, MD, has been named one of three 2022 Gold Humanism Scholars at the Harvard Macy Institute Program for Educators.

The award was announced by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation, which recognizes health care educators whose work helps develop or evaluate educational projects focused on humanistic patient care. The projects must be able to be replicated across health care settings, which further amplifies their impact.

Dr. Marcelin’s project, "JEDI with Jasmine," focuses on building trust through developing inclusive spaces to discuss principles of justice, equity, diversity and inclusion in health care for internal medicine residents and faculty.

"We are excited to welcome the 2022-2023 Gold Humanism Scholars into our community of caring," said Ann Bruder, associate vice president of programs at the Gold Foundation. "Their commitment to inclusivity, compassion and respect for patients, families, other health care clinicians and colleagues is evident throughout their work."

Dr. Marcelin’s project expands on an existing program that she developed to teach learners the skills needed to understand, recognize and dismantle structural racism in health care. The longitudinal project, known as "Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion (JEDI) with Jasmine," was first implemented in 2020 and builds on the infrastructure for institutional progress through the leveraging of innovative, monthly curricular components. The project is a means for tangibly making the internal medicine residency as culturally attuned as possible and includes:

• Providing a safe space for exploration;
• Inviting residents to discuss their personal and/or witnessed experiences in which applying JEDI principles would have made a difference; and
• Training IM residents/faculty with the tools needed to be active upstanders and health care justice advocates.

Dr. Marcelin’s project proposes additional revisions to the JEDI with Jasmine series such as incorporating prompts, breakout discussions and group discussions about specific JEDI topics that internal medicine residents may encounter through interprofessional lunch and learn sessions with patient-care cases that highlight justice, equity, diversity and inclusion in health care.

The Gold Humanism Scholars receive partial scholarships of $5,000 to attend the Harvard Macy Institute Program for Educators in the Health Professions, an interactive faculty development program that meets for two week-long meetings, and then one per month in between, each year in Cambridge, Massachusetts, or virtually as circumstances require. Scholars learn innovative methods to teach and assess their projects, as well as how to steer and champion their projects successfully through a maze of academic requirements.

An associate professor of infectious diseases in the UNMC Department of Internal Medicine, Dr. Marcelin also is co-director of digital innovation & social media strategy for the division of infectious diseases, associate medical director of antimicrobial stewardship, and associate program director of the UNMC Internal Medicine Residency. In 2021, she was inducted into the Gold Humanism Honor Society and recognized as an exemplar of humanistic patient care serving as a role model, mentor, and leader in medicine.