Beyond Clinical Knowledge: A Conversation on Mentorship and Humanistic Medicine
Medicine is learned not only in lecture halls and hospital wards, but also in the everyday conversations and interactions where clinicians build lasting relationships with patients over time. For Cynthia McNamara, MD, associate professor of medicine (general medicine) at Yale School of Medicine and a physician at VA Connecticut, those spaces have shaped her approach to ambulatory education, mentorship, and patient care.
McNamara, who recently received the Jack Hughes Ambulatory Teaching Award, works closely with residents and medical students at Yale and the VA, helping them strengthen their clinical reasoning, build meaningful relationships with patients, and connect evidence-based medicine with the realities of everyday care.
In a Q&A, she discusses what first drew her to medical education, how caring for veterans and teaching in resource-limited settings have influenced her work at Yale, and why mentorship and humanistic care remain central to training the next generation of physicians.
How do you promote humanistic patient care through teaching?
I encourage residents to begin with the questions that naturally arise while caring for patients. Research can feel abstract, but at its best, it grows directly out of clinical care: noticing a gap, asking why it exists, and thinking about how answering that question could improve care.
Excellent teaching involves more than giving someone slides, an article, or information from an AI tool. It is about incorporating that knowledge into a dialogue that is understood, accepted, and agreed upon with another person. That is what humanistic care is. Done well, they go hand in hand.
You can teach someone the steps for diagnosing and treating atrial fibrillation, but good care requires more than following a flow chart. It means considering the evidence, recognizing cognitive biases, thinking about less common causes, and understanding the patient’s social circumstances. Do they have support? Are they going to be able to take the medication? Do they trust you? All those things matter. It’s important to take a holistic, humanistic approach.
How do you help residents apply research and classroom learning to patient care?
I encourage residents to begin with the questions that naturally arise while caring for patients. Research can feel abstract, but at its best, it grows directly out of clinical care: noticing a gap, asking why it exists, and thinking about how answering that question could improve care.
How has caring for veterans at VA Connecticut shaped your approach to teaching?
Veterans have histories and experiences that are deeply formative, and many carry feelings from those experiences that may take time and trust to share. I think it’s shaped the way I educate because what I like to do with the residents is encourage them to ask the veterans about their deployment or service. I’ve seen how powerful that connection can be. Working with veterans and helping them unlock the box of their history and the feelings that went along with that has helped me teach the importance of the doctor-patient connection in establishing a longitudinal relationship, which really contributes to shared decision-making. That idea also shapes our outpatient curriculum. We have had residents do “walk with a vet,” and we are starting a “lunch with a vet” component, where veterans can sit with residents and talk in an unscripted way.
You also help oversee Yale’s Mentor Advisor Coach program. Can you tell me about the program and its goals?
The Mentor Advisor Coach program, or MAC program, pairs every incoming intern or transfer resident with a faculty mentor outside their intended field of interest, creating a non-evaluative relationship that is separate from the performance assessment.
The goal is to create a safe space where residents can confide in a faculty member who is invested in them as a colleague and a person. As residents navigate career decisions, work-life balance, relationships, family plans, and questions that arise throughout training, the program gives them someone to talk to throughout that process.
How have your experiences in both global health and rural medicine influenced what you believe residents should learn?
My work in rural settings across Central and South America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the United States has taught me that every setting is different. You cannot superimpose one experience onto another. What has influenced me most in my teaching is encouraging residents to think beyond the resources immediately available to them.
When you do not have easy access to tests, specialists, or imaging, you have to rely more deeply on your physical exam, history-taking, and clinical judgment. I often ask residents, What would you do if you could not get the MRI? What does the physical exam show? The goal is to help them dig deeper and develop skills they can draw on wherever they practice.
What is one lesson you hope trainees carry with them throughout their careers?
I would say always listen to your inner voice, because that will take you back to your values. In the hustle and bustle of the hospital, clinic, and day-to-day tasking, it is easy to lose touch with your North Star and the reasons you became a physician. When you feel overwhelmed, remember that it can be temporary, and return to those values to recenter yourself.
I want to help trainees stay connected with themselves, maintain a growth mindset, and not just survive their training, but thrive in it. They are brilliant, with remarkable curiosity and passion, and we need to help sustain that throughout their careers.