Shaping Our Vision with Dr. Stacy Higgins

Stacy Higgins, MD, is a Professor of Medicine and Director, Primary Care Internal Medicine Residency Program at Emory University. Over the last 20 years, Dr. Higgins has pursued her passion for leadership in medical education and has led research on a variety of topics including humanism, reflective learning, mentorship and diversity. She founded the Women’s Clinic within the Grady Primary Care Center and the International Medical Clinics which provide care to underserved populations. She is the recipient of a number of prestigious awards including the American College of Physicians (ACP) W. Lester Henry Award for Diversity and Access to Care and Emory University’s prestigious Papageorge Distinguished Teaching Award. It’s one thing to reflect on your own performance as a physician. It’s another step entirely to commit to improving the next day, and the next day, and the next. Today, Dr. Stacy Higgins encourages us to become reflective learners—and to continually ask ourselves how we can improve. On top of this, she recommends finding our passion and putting it to good use: Not only will find fulfillment, but those around us will gain more value from what we do. And she reassures us not to worry if we don’t have it “all figured out” before approaching a mentor. The role of the mentor is to help us put the pieces together and shape our vision. Pearls of Wisdom: 1. Be a reflective learner. Ask yourself daily - what did I do today? How will it change what I am going to do tomorrow? 2. Discover your true passion. Everybody has something that they're really passionate about. Work hard to discover what that is and then make it meaningful to the institution you are at. 3. You don't have to have a perfect vision in order to sit down and talk with a mentor. The role of a mentor is to help you sort that out. Don't delay mentorship.