Founded in 1902, Alpha Omega Alpha is the national medical honor society. Its mission is to improve care for everyone by recognizing high educational achievement; honoring gifted teaching; encouraging the development of leaders in academia and the community; supporting the ideals of humanism; and promoting service to others.
Students Honors and Awards
Awards Heading link
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Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) Honor Society
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Gold Humanism Honor Society
The mission of the Gold Humanism Honor Society (GHHS) is to recognize individuals who practice humanistic patient care and who can serve as role models, mentors, and leaders in medicine. The power of the Society lies in bringing together like-minded individuals to sustain their own humanism and to inspire and nurture humanism in others. Membership in GHHS goes beyond selection and induction into an honor society; its members have demonstrated compassion, empathy and humanism in their prior work and have a responsibility to model, support, and advocate for compassionate, patient-centered care throughout their careers.
The University of Illinois College of Medicine (UI COM) has formed three local chapters of this national honor society to recognize outstanding humanistic activity among the students at our three different campuses. The Gold Humanism Honor Society is sponsored by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation whose mission is fostering humanism in medicine. The Gold Foundation defines humanism as “encompassing those attitudes and behaviors that emanate from a deep sensitivity and respect for others, including full acceptance of all cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Further, humanism is exemplified through compassionate, empathetic treatment of all persons, while recognizing each one’s needs and autonomy.”
The Gold Foundation is a public, not-for-profit organization established in 1988 by Drs. Arnold and Sandra Gold, colleagues at the Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons in New York City, and dedicated community leaders and philanthropists. Through funds raised by The Foundation for programs, significant advances have been made in the development, implementation, evaluation and replication of innovative medical educational programs and projects to influence the way physicians are trained. National programs include sponsorship of the White Coat Ceremony for incoming medical students, Student Clinician’s Ceremony for rising third year medical students, fellowships, essay contests, lectures, Humanism and Excellence in Teaching Awards, national symposia, training videos, and an on-line Humanism Resource Center. More information on the Foundation: http://humanism-in-medicine.org/
For more information on the local chapters at our different campuses and the award recipients for the current year, please visit the respective websites: