Student spotlight: Ceili Hamill

Ceili Hamill, a member of the School of Medicine’s class of 2025, believes strongly in humanism in medicine. She keeps that connection strong by indulging her talent for creative writing alive, even as she handles the rigor of medical school.

She was among the winners of the 2024 Dr. Hope Babette Tang Humanism in Healthcare Essay Contest sponsored by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation. Her essay, Girl of Debra, won honorable mention among more than 500 submissions.

In announcing the winners, Elizabeth Cleek, PsyD, chief operating officer and senior vice president of the Gold Foundation, said, “This year’s winning essays poignantly convey the experiences of nurses and physicians in training. Each essay tells a unique story, yet they speak to a common truth: We are all better off when compassion is central in healthcare.”

This year, the contest prompt was a quote from Sir William Osler, whose writings about the practice of medicine have influenced clinicians for over a century: “The practice of medicine is an art, not a trade; a calling, not a business; a calling in which your heart will be exercised equally with your head.”

Hamill’s essay explored the complex emotions she and the rest of her NICU care team navigated as they cared for an abandoned infant, who by an obscure legal provision, remained nameless.

In addition to the Gold Foundation honor, Hamill was also accepted to a competitive writing internship with in-Training, an online peer-reviewed publication for medical students. “I submitted some writing pieces and was accepted to Writers-inTraining last summer. Since then, I’ve been sending in pieces,” she said. “I’ve published two pieces there and a third is pending.”

Hamill said she’s always been interested in writing and even minored in English as an undergraduate. “I honestly think writing is a very important skill to have in medicine,” she said. “Especially with the advent of medical charts being open to patients — patients can see every single thing written about them — we’re going to have to humanize our writing. I also think it’s improved my ability to speak with patients and to be intentional about what I say and what I put down on paper.”