Today, we are joined by Dr. Erica Miller and Dr. Emily Salib, medical educators and physicians from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry.
Dr. Erica Miller, MD, is a cardiologist and Associate Professor at the University of Rochester with expertise in hypertension, echocardiography, and cardiovascular disease prevention. She serves as Program Director of the Internal Medicine-Pediatrics Residency Program and leads work in curriculum development, health equity, diversity and inclusion, and advancing opportunities for women in medicine. Dr. Emily Salib, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics at UR and a Med-Peds hospitalist who holds multiple faculty development and residency leadership roles, focusing on mentoring, health equity, diversity and inclusion, and clinician well-being.
In this rich and deeply human conversation, Drs. Miller and Salib join Mick Krasner to explore the role of awe in medicine and how moments of wonder, moral beauty, connection, and transcendence can sustain clinicians amid the pressures of modern healthcare. Drawing on the work of psychologist Dacher Keltner as well as their own experiences as physicians, educators, and leaders in medical training, they discuss how awe arises through patient care, acts of courage and compassion, epiphanies in learning, grief, healing, and even ordinary clinical moments. Together, they reflect on how medicine may unintentionally train clinicians away from awe through time pressure, distraction, and cultural norms of detachment — while also arguing that reconnecting with awe may help restore meaning, counter depersonalization and burnout, and remind clinicians why they entered medicine in the first place.
We also cover:
- What awe is and Dacher Keltner’s research on eight universal sources of awe, particularly moral beauty as witnessed in patient resilience and courage
- How modern medicine may unintentionally train awe out of trainees and clinicians
- Practical ways to notice and cultivate awe in daily practice
- The emerging research linking awe and sacred moments to lower rates of burnout and awe as a potential antidote to depersonalization
Learn from these two physician-educators about how awe might be a powerful, accessible, and overlooked resource for sustaining meaning and well-being in medicine. Their work demonstrates that clinicians need not choose between acknowledging healthcare’s challenges and recognizing the extraordinary privilege of front-row seats to human resilience, healing, and moral beauty.