Dr. Mill Etienne Wins Prestigious AAMC Award for Humanism in Medicine
The Arnold P. Gold Foundation Humanism in Medicine Award is Bestowed Annually on Just One Medical School Faculty Physician Nationwide
Mill Etienne, M.D. ’02, M.P.H., vice chancellor, associate dean for student affairs, and associate professor of neurology and of medicine, is the 2025 recipient of the prestigious Arnold P. Gold Foundation Humanism in Medicine Award from the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC). Dr. Etienne will receive the award from the AAMC during a special virtual event on October 22.
The Arnold P. Gold Foundation Humanism in Medicine Award honors a medical school faculty physician who exemplifies the qualities of a caring and compassionate mentor in the teaching and advising of medical students and embodies personal characteristics that are desirable qualities necessary to the practice of patient-centered medicine.
“This well-deserved and significant honor, bestowed annually on just one medical school faculty physician nationwide, celebrates not only Dr. Etienne’s excellence as a clinician, mentor, and teacher, but also the humanism that defines his approach to medicine—demonstrated through his compassion for patients, his dedication to students, and his ability to inspire all who work with him,” said Neil W. Schluger, M.D., dean of the School of Medicine.
As noted on the AAMC website in announcing the awards, Dr. Etienne has often reflected on how growing up in the impoverished Port-au-Prince, Haiti, shaped his clinical and pedagogical approach. “I do remember what it’s like to have less access and to not see physicians on a regular basis,” said Dr. Etienne. “I remember all those elements of my childhood, and what I find most fulfilling about my career is the fact that I'm able to take care of patients, give them high-quality care regardless of their ability to pay, and at the same time be able to teach students how to give that high-level care.”
Dr. Etienne knows that seeing the humanity of each patient is key to providing good care but also understands that making system-wide changes can have an enormous impact. He is a founding faculty member of the Transformative Education Leadership Program (TELP) at NYMC, which was designed to combat racism and unconscious bias in the health care field through medical education, and has spearheaded the NYMC involvement with the national organization, Black Men in White Coats. In 2022, he started the Medical Education Lab at NYMC, which has made research opportunities more accessible to all students on campus.
As director of the electives, Multiculturalism in Medicine, Impact of War on Medicine, and Health and Justice, for fourth-year medical students, Dr. Etienne has broadened perspectives on how to treat patients from a wide range of backgrounds. Through the Health and Justice elective, students meet in a classroom with people who are incarcerated so they can exchange ideas, complete projects together, and learn from each other. The students gain a more in-depth understanding of patients’ challenges from hearing and seeing these challenges firsthand.
Shortly after 9/11, Dr. Etienne joined the U.S. Navy and was commissioned while still a resident at Columbia University. He served as the founding director of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Because of his ties to Haiti, Dr. Etienne served as one of the physicians and chief of the ethics committee on board the U.S. Naval Ship Comfort during Operation Unified Response, the U.S. military response to Haiti’s devastating earthquake in January 2010. And during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Etienne was again called up to serve as the chair of the Health Equity Task Force for vaccine distribution in the Hudson Valley.
In addition to his naval service and work at NYMC, Dr. Etienne is a visiting scholar at the National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care at Tuskegee University and director of medicine and neurology at WMCHealth’s Good Samaritan Hospital. He is a past president of the New York State Neurological Society and the Harlem and Yale University chapters of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.
Dr. Etienne has received numerous accolades for his work, including the Crain’s New York Champion of Change award, the American Academy of Neurology Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Changemaker Award, and the American Medical Association Dedication to the Profession Award. In 2021, he received the NYMC Gold Humanism Honor Society Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award. He has received the NYMC Award for Excellence in Teaching and Mentorship ten times.
