The Gold Humanism Honor Society (GHHS) is preparing to select its next class of student members for the upcoming year. Peer nomination is the critical first step in the selection process. Included below is more information about the organization, the nomination process, and the election process.

What is Gold Humanism Honor Society?

GHHS is a national honor society that recognizes students, residents, and faculty who are humanistic exemplars for their peers, have a commitment to service, and demonstrate the utmost professionalism in medicine. (Academic performance is not considered and no grade information is collected/shared). At UW, the GHHS chapter is responsible for a variety of projects, including but not limited to the Imposter Syndrome project, Tell Me More Campaign and the Transition to Residency Story Slam event. In the past, GHHS has also collaborated in national research with the Arnold P. Gold Foundation.

How many people will be elected?

The national GHHS organization allows for up to 15% of the graduating class to be elected to the chapter per year. The election is a blinded process, so no names are revealed while the group is deciding on its members. Elected student names are revealed only after the election has concluded. Elected students will be contacted in late April.

Who is eligible to be elected?

According to the national GHHS organization, students are eligible for consideration once when they are entering their final year of medical school. (There are still opportunities to be selected as a resident or faculty member in future years).

• Note: due to the nature of our distributed campus model, if a student expands during the clinical years or participates in the MD/PhD program, it is difficult for them to receive peer nominations during the year that they would be eligible for membership. Subsequently, we solicit nominations with their original class and retain those until the year that they are eligible for membership consideration.

In order to be considered for membership, eligible students must:

• Be entering their final year of medical school
• Be nominated by peers (see below)
• Be invited to fill out an application following the nomination process (students will be contacted directly by the GHHS selection committee)
• Submit all application materials on time for consideration by the UW GHHS chapter

How do students get nominations? How can I nominate my peers?

Students may nominate their MS3 peers by going to: https://forms.office.com/r/7vQaV1Hzwh

You must submit your nominations before 10:59 p.m. AK, 11:59 p.m. PT and 12:59 a.m. MT on Sunday, Feb. 12..

• Good candidates include students who are considered humanistic exemplars in the practice of medicine and demonstrate utmost professionalism.
• Because the focus of this organization is based on humanism, the national organization frowns on students soliciting nominations.
• Self-nominations are not considered and will be removed.

If you have questions about the honor society, please don’t hesitate to contact Brooke Bessen and Adrian DeLeon, chapter co-presidents, (bessenbl@uw.edu and adrianjd@uw.edu), or Dr. Jill Watanabe, chapter advisor, (watanabe@uw.edu).