“There’s a lot more to medicine than just science, son.”

It’s a beautiful day outside and as always, I enjoy taking walks around our stunning campus at Jefferson Einstein Montgomery Hospital. Working at a hospital that is both beautiful and modern is of course a joy. However, the greater good is the impact that these beautiful facilities have on our patients’ recoveries.

Many research studies now reveal how beauty can heal patients on many levels. A study at the University of Michigan found that a high appreciation of beauty helps people recover from anxiety and depression.

At the University of California, Berkeley, research found that people who experience awe in response to nature’s beauty have significant lower levels of inflammation, reducing the risk of depression, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and other illnesses. In fact, research found that the more often we experience awe, the lower our inflammation levels.

On a personal note, though my father was not a doctor, he gave me the most sage advice when I graduated medical school. At that point, my father had been battling multiple cancers. Through his experience as a patient, having undergone multiple cancer surgeries and treatments, he reminded me at my graduation that “there’s a lot more to medicine than just science son.”

My father understood that a caring and comfortable healing environment, with compassionate doctors and staff, could make all the difference in a patient’s mental wellbeing, and provide patients with more hope and inspiration to recover.

My Dad sadly passed away from his cancers in 1994, most sadly he died on Father’s Day. But his teachings live on in me —and for that, I am forever grateful.