Doctors are called upon to treat the sickest of the sick, often in conditions that demand the most of the strongest human beings. Yet, even in America with some of the best medical conditions in the world, doctors are still called upon to serve, heal, and respond—over and over again—usually with no thought for their own well-being, endurance, or limitations.

Medical students are also found in similar situations: forced to the brink of their mental, emotional, and physical capacity, to study, learn and perform on cue . . . and they do this because they want to serve people.

So, how do we take care of our doctors and medical students? Based on the sheer number of healthcare professionals who drop out of school, out of their practices, or —worse yet, out of life itself through suicide—the answer is: not well at all.

At the Benjamin Rush Institute annual student leadership conference, we will present concrete, workable and proven ways to improve healthcare for all, and above all, heal our healers through the patient-doctor relationship.