{"id":146361,"date":"2026-09-02T16:17:23","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T20:17:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/?post_type=bu-article&p=146361"},"modified":"2026-09-02T16:49:46","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T20:49:46","slug":"9th-annual-lorraine-stanfield-md-lecture-emphasizes-humanity-in-doctoring","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/news-events\/articles\/2026\/9th-annual-lorraine-stanfield-md-lecture-emphasizes-humanity-in-doctoring\/","title":{"rendered":"9th Annual Lorraine Stanfield, MD, Lecture Emphasizes Humanity in Doctoring"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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Jada Foreman (CAMED\u201930), left, listens to the heartbeat of Sarita Som (CAMED\u201930) after receiving her stethoscope.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t 9th Annual Lorraine Stanfield, MD, Lecture Emphasizes Humanity in Doctoring \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

First-year medical students received stethoscopes donated by alumni. <\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n
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September 2, 2026<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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Speakers at the 9th<\/sup> Annual Lorraine Stanfield, MD, Memorial Doctoring Lecture, who had known and worked with Stanfield who died from breast cancer in 2017 at age 56, spoke about her caring nature. A beloved teacher, mentor and clinician, Stanfield worked for two decades as a primary care physician at Dorchester House Health Center (DotHouse), caring for historically disadvantaged patients. She was the recipient of both the school\u2019s and the University\u2019s highest teaching awards as well as the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Students
Kenny Thai (CAMED\u201930) receives his stethoscope and other equipment donated by alumni during the annual Lorraine Stanfield, MD, Memorial Doctoring Lecture.\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

First-year medical student Sarita Som found it moving that years after she\u2019d passed, Stanfield\u2019s story still inspired her friends and coworkers to remember her to incoming medical students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat speaks volumes for how she showed up in medicine and for her community,\u201d said Som. \u201cThe stories they shared about her made me feel like I could bring more of my personality into medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Keynote speaker Dr. Ziv Haskal addresses the Class of 2030.\n<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

That was message that alumni guest speaker Ziv Haskal, MD\u201986, conveyed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A world-renowned interventional radiologist at the University of Virginia, Haskal received a Distinguished Alumni Award from the medical school\u2019s alumni association in 2025. He has delivered more than 700 lectures, published extensively, received numerous honors and served as editor of two prestigious medical journals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his address to medical students, Haskal talked about the value of finding a mentor and about paying attention to your inner voice when selecting a specialty, but mostly he focused on how to relate to patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou are not the king of the castle,\u201d he said. \u201c(Patients) don\u2019t work for us; we work for them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Always sit down when you go into a room. Treating patients as human beings by conveying that you too are human fundamentally changes the patient\/doctor relationship for the better.<\/p>Ziv Haskal, MD<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Haskal relayed advice given to him by his mentor, the late John \u201cJack\u201d O\u2019Connor, MD\u201957.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAlways sit down when you go into a room,\u201d Haskal recalled him saying. Treating patients as human beings by conveying that you too are human fundamentally changes the patient\/doctor relationship for the better, he observed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe pleasure lies in the relationship with that patient; it can be brief, or it can be longstanding and recurring over time, and with their family as well. They will thank you for your care. But remember to thank them, for the privilege of allowing you to be part of their care,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lorraine Stanfield Scholarship recipient Angelee Verdieu, MPH\u201922, a second-year medical student, spoke to students about her experience working at DotHouse this summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have found that my favorite aspect of medicine lives in the reminder that patients are whole people, and our goal as future physicians is to understand how social, structural and behavioral factors shape their medical realities.<\/p>Angelee Verdieu<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

“Being present for full days of patient sessions made me appreciate how often the best plan of care is not determined by diagnosis alone, but by whether that plan fits into a patient\u2019s life \u2013 their primary language, finances, access to transportation and resources, and social support,\u201d she said. \u201cI have found that my favorite aspect of medicine lives in the reminder that patients are whole people, and our goal as future physicians is to understand how social, structural and behavioral factors shape their medical realities.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verdieu\u2019s mother is a nurse practitioner at Codman Square Health Center, also located in Dorchester.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI grew up witnessing the impacts of building a trusting relationship with patients over time,\u201d she said. \u201cThat shaped my career interest early and I knew that I wanted to work in primary care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A quartet of students tryout their new stethoscopes.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At the Aug. 24 lecture held in Hiebert Lounge, 138 medical students received stethoscopes and other medical instruments including the patella hammer, tuning forks, ophthalmoscope and otoscope. Since 2007, alumni have donated more than 2,500 stethoscopes to students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First-year medical student Meredith Braddy is considering a career as an obstetrician-gynecologist, and she ordered a pink stethoscope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a big moment for me. I\u2019m the first person in my family to pursue becoming a doctor. (The stethoscope) is a symbol of the responsibility and the honor of taking care of patients.<\/p>Meredith Braddy<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a big moment for me. I\u2019m the first person in my family to pursue becoming a doctor,\u201d Braddy said. \u201c(The stethoscope) is a symbol of the responsibility and the honor of taking care of patients.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Cassandra Chu (CAMED\u201930) reacts as she hears the heartbeat of a classmate. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Working five years as a volunteer emergency medical technician, from his last year of high school through four years of undergraduate study at Case Western Reserve University, first-year medical student Isaac Alexander grew accustomed to using stethoscopes but had never owned one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt feels surreal,\u201d Alexander said. \u201cIt\u2019s very nice to be gifted one that I hope to keep and use for the rest of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Alexander, service to community is hardwired. An Eagle Scout, he also volunteered for a year at a maternity home in Cleveland as an undergraduate student.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWorking with a vulnerable population definitely instilled in me the need for the support and encouragement I hope to give to my future patients,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Som said receiving the medical instruments further emphasized what she was feeling at the White Coat Ceremony, when she first put on that symbol of the medical profession.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all starting now. These are our first steps,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Speakers at the 9th Annual Lorraine Stanfield, MD, Memorial Doctoring Lecture, who had known and worked with Stanfield who died from breast cancer in 2017 at age 56, spoke about her caring nature. A beloved teacher, mentor and clinician, Stanfield worked for two decades as a primary care physician at Dorchester House Health Center (DotHouse), […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":903,"featured_media":146273,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"Student Activities","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"tags":[395,358,405],"bu-publication":[367],"medicine-article-category":[],"medicine-topic":[],"news-article-category":[376,379,464,384],"news-topic":[],"bu_edition":[390],"media_type":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/146361"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/903"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146361"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/146361\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":146372,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/146361\/revisions\/146372"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146361"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=146361"},{"taxonomy":"medicine-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/medicine-article-category?post=146361"},{"taxonomy":"medicine-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/medicine-topic?post=146361"},{"taxonomy":"news-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-article-category?post=146361"},{"taxonomy":"news-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-topic?post=146361"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=146361"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=146361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}