In 2024, Op-Med published more than 400 essays from Doximity members, who shared the good, the bad, the sad, the funny, and everything else that comes with working in medicine. It is from this group of writers that we bring you this year’s winners of the Op-Med Awards.
The Op-Med Awards highlight exceptional publications in six categories as voted on by the editorial staff: Community Favorite (the piece driving the most community engagement); Foreground Award (the best discussion of a new or existing problem in health care); Pathos Award (the most moving piece); Rising Star (the most promising voice among first-time contributors in 2024); Best Fellows Piece (the best work by one of our Op-Med Fellows); Editor’s Pick (our top choice overall).
We hope you enjoy this year’s winners.
Community Favorite
Are Physicians Really Part of the Middle Class Now? by Brian Brandon Gilmer, MD
Against a backdrop of burgeoning physician burnout and physician pay that isn’t keeping up with inflation, Dr. Gilmer, an orthopaedic surgeon, doesn’t just ask, but asserts that physicians are now part of the middle class. The essay spurred nearly 900 comments from Doximity members who agreed with his thesis.
“At the end of the day,” Dr. Gilmer writes, “a large portion of our unhappiness as physicians stems from the disparity between our expectations and our reality. We expect that because of our investment in our education and our status as professionals, we are entitled to the lifestyle being broadcasted to us by the internet and social media. That illusion is not a realistic portrait of anyone but a small minority of the ultrawealthy who are not us.”
Runner-up: Beyond the Stethoscope: The Growing Appeal of Non-Traditional Med Careers by Aditya Jain, Medical Student
Foreground Award
Checklist Fatigue Is Real by Jennifer Boyle, MD
Medicine is a career that relies on mitigating risk to preserve patient safety. Clinicians are trained for years to provide expert, scientifically-supported care to ensure the best possible health outcomes for their patients. But is there such a thing as going too far in the name of safety? In her thoughtful, nuanced piece, Dr. Boyle, an ob/gyn, explores the effects of safety checklists on patient care and clinician workflow, and how sometimes processes that purport to protect patients can have the opposite effect. Providing patient care is more than just ticking boxes on a checklist, and the author sheds light on how checklists can be used productively so they better support the goal of safety, rather than add to the burden of clinician paperwork.
Runner-up: You Shouldn't Choose Medicine ‘Just Because’ by Danny Landau, MD
Pathos Award
Dear Grief … by Brittany Panico, DO
Have you ever felt the weight of grief settle so deeply that it became a constant companion? In her powerful and introspective essay, Dr. Panico, a rheumatologist, personifies Grief, engaging in a raw and honest dialogue with the emotion that has shaped her journey. From the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic to the unrelenting pressures of a medical career, she explores the mourning of lost moments, fading relationships, and an evolving sense of self. With striking vulnerability, Dr. Panico captures the universal struggle of navigating sorrow while searching for light — a poignant reflection on learning to live with loss without letting it take control.
Runner-up: Why an AI Will Never Replace a Brain Surgeon by Theodore Schwartz, MD
Rising Star
I Had Cancer as a Child. My Parents Hid It from Me by Hope Haefner, MD
In her first contribution to Op-Med, Dr. Haefner, an ob/gyn, shares an emotional and personal account of her aggressive childhood ovarian cancer. At the time of the surgery to remove her cancer, she underwent an abdominal hysterectomy, bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, and an incidental appendectomy. Dr. Haefner, then 9, was only told about the appendectomy. Though the truth was eventually revealed, and Dr. Haefner forgives her parents for the lack of openness, Dr. Haefner laments the secretive shrouding of her care as a child, and encourages readers to “disturb the sound of silence.”
Runner-up: Double Vision: From First Job to Federal Indictment by Mahsa Ava Sohrab, MD
Fellows Award
Who Is Responsible for Telling a Patient They Have Cancer? by Kyle Edward Walker, MD
Doximity Op-Med Fellows are an annual group of contributors to Op-Med. They write several pieces that span across specialty, locality, business, and general interest topics. This year, our Fellows Award goes to Dr. Walker, an orthopaedic surgeon, who writes about a patient who had been referred to him and was fearing an amputation based on what a generalist had told her at an initial work-up. Walker writes with care and precision about the unknowns in concerning early pathology findings. He explores the gray area of pinning down a diagnosis and when it is, and is not, appropriate to tell a patient about a cancerous lesion.
Runner-up: The Thrill of Saying No by Melissa Schiffman, MD
Editor’s Pick
5 Foolproof Strategies for Dealing with Difficult Patients by Lauren H. Grawert, MD
In the editors’ favorite piece of the year, a psychiatrist offers actionable strategies for dealing with the patients all clinicians know perhaps better than they’d like: those who make dangerous or medically contraindicated requests. By means of candid examples and a warm, humorous tone, Dr. Grawert pushes the trope of the “challenging patient” into new territory, reminding physicians that it’s less about getting through a tough visit than about seizing the opportunity to improve self-awareness and come to a mutual (and perhaps “surprisingly pleasant”) understanding. For its resistance to pat bromides and its deep empathy for both patients and the clinicians who treat them, Dr. Grawert’s piece stands as an example for all would-be contributors to Op-Med.
Runner-up: My Private Practice Is Dying by Shannon Elizabeth (Simpson) Meron, MD
Do you want the chance to see your name on this list? Submit to Op-Med by emailing opmed@doximity.com.
Illustration by April Brust and Jennifer Bogartz
