Our friend, leader, and role model has passed.
What a surreal moment of sadness, reflection, slowing, and conviction.
I always knew you as simply Holly, not “Dr. Humphrey.” The latter was a given and absolutely respected; it just felt too distant a title for how you showed up as program director to us residents. Our respect for and deference to you was not commanded, demanded, or condescended by you. It was a natural consequence of your presence: attuned, caring, earnest, authentic, and integrous. Your essence emanated teacher, leader, mentor, steward, and patron.
I never knew you closely, but I felt known by you. And that was enough. Those three years were grueling and also bonding. The culture you set of caring and encouragement, of looking after one another and always being on the same team, filtered through the chief residents, senior residents, and interns, so that we (when we had the bandwidth) could show caring and encouragement to the medical students. Back before work hour restrictions existed, this was significant. The University of Chicago Internal Medicine Residency Program was known as one of the most collegial and compassionate in the country, as well as one of the most rigorous and accomplished. The longer I practice, the more I observe corporate and academic cultures from various perspectives, the more I appreciate and marvel at that incredible integration, at the uniquely holistic community of my training. I knew it at the time; did not take it for granted. And yet even now, more than twenty years out, the lasting impact on my own ethos and those of my classmates continues to move me. I am so proud and grateful to have the privilege of calling myself a UofC IM graduate.
Reading the long list of initiatives, accomplishments, and accolades attributed to you after my time at UChicago ended, my psyche swells with pride for you, vicarious gratitude for all whom your programs touched, and inspiration to make my own contribution in kind. Your mission and impact, as I understand from afar, was always to not only lift others directly, but show us all how to lift one another. You were a leader of leaders—you helped us all identify and call forth that within each of us that would help make one another better.
What an honor and privilege to have shared even such a brief moment of this lifetime with you, Holly. Those three years of residency, though short, were transformative. Looking back, I was definitely not my best self at that time. I cringe, and then I imagine how you might have counseled me, with honesty, compassion, and conviction to be my better self. You empowered us through your confidence in us. You held us accountable to a standard of conduct that made us worthy of our integrity. Your leadership helped shape our character as clinicians and citizens of the profession.
Your life and memory are blessings on all who knew you.
May we honor you and the impact you had on us all by carrying on the work you so bravely and generously began in innovative and connecting ways–the work of deepening compassion, inclusion, excellence, and humaneness in medicine.
Healing Through Connection 