But, now I will tell you a secret--a mystery. Those who suffer need you to be something more than a doctor; they need you to be a healer. And, to become a healer, you must do something even more difficult than putting your white coat on. You must take your white coat off. You must recover, embrace, and treasure the memory of your shared, frail humanity--of the dignity in each and every soul. When you take off that white coat in the sacred presence of those for whom you will care--in the sacred presence of people just like you--when you take off that white coat, and, tower not over them, but join those you serve, you become a healer in a world of fear and fragmentation, an "aching" world, as your chaplain put it this morning, that has never needed healing more.  -Donald Berwick

Donald Berwick, recent Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in the Obama Administration and a founder of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, gave this speech at his daughter's graduation from Yale Medical School on May 24, 2010.