Happy National Doctor's Day from SFMMS & Dr. Jessie Mahoney March 30, 2026 Physician Wellness 0 On this National Doctor's Day, SFMMS shares this invitation to pause from Dr. Jessie Mahoney, SFMMS Membership Engagement Committee Member and Physician Wellness Advocate: Today is a great moment to pause and reflect on what medicine, and we, as the people practicing medicine in 2026, need. We are often taught that professionalism means fitting in. Putting on the white coat. Looking like everyone else. Toning down the colorful, tender, human, and unique parts of ourselves. What medicine actually needs more of is precisely those parts. Medicine needs our most authentic selves and our unique gifts. It needs our humanity, our wisdom, our kindness, our lived experience, our humor, our courage, our steadiness, and our love. The parts of us that cannot be standardized are not incidental. They are essential. They remind us why we came to medicine in the first place. They help patients feel seen. They help physicians feel less alone. They are a big part of what medicine itself most needs right now. This weekend at the American Medical Women’s Association conference, a physician wearing sparkly, iridescent mermaid earrings came to speak with me. I commented on how delightful they were. She told me that people often say she should not wear them at work, but that she does anyway because her patients love them. We never fully know what part of us might be the very thing that helps someone else feel at ease. The very thing that creates connection. The very thing that brings a little humanity, hope, or healing into a hard day. What have you been hiding, or not letting show? This is not about being louder for the sake of being noticed. It is not about pretending that the challenges in medicine are simple. It is about presence, heart, and bringing more of our actual selves to our work. At the AMWA conference, I shared a short talk called What Would Love Do? Leading from the Heart in Medicine. It was a shorter and more tailored version of my TEDx talk. In it, I shared a story about thinking harder, solving faster, gathering more data, managing every moving piece, and trying to control the outcome in difficult situations. When I finally slowed down, put my hands on my heart, and got quiet enough to listen, I realized I had been using the wrong lens and asking the wrong questions. In healthcare in 2026, we often use the wrong lens and ask the wrong questions. I am not suggested we replace rigor, discernment, or wisdom. I am suggesting we choose humanism, kindness, love, and caring as our primary lens. It opens access to a different kind of clarity, one that fear and fitting in cannot offer. Healthcare is full of intelligence, skill, and effort. Yet connection, compassion, caring, health, sustainability, and deep healing continue to elude us. It is not only a lack of expertise or effort getting in the way. Imagine if physicians and healthcare leaders approached challenges and decisions through a more loving, caring, and kind lens. Imagine if professionalism prioritized humanity. Imagine if authenticity were not seen as indulgent, but as part of what makes medicine more functional, more caring, more sustainable, and more whole. Dr. Jessie Mahoney's invitation to you for National Doctor's Day: Pause. Put your hands on your heart. Take a breath. And ask yourself: What gifts are yours to bring? What have you been hiding, or not letting show? What would love do — for you, for the others involved, and for the greater world? Happy National Doctor's Day to those who celebrate. I hope you take a moment today to pause, reflect, and reconnect with what is most true in you. We hope you will join us for an upcoming physician event and utilize the resources we have for you! Attend an Upcoming SFMMS Event! Ready to rest, reconnect, and heal in community? Join your colleagues at an upcoming SFMMS event Comments are closed.
