Helen Riess, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Empathetics; Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
What are you currently doing professionally?
As a founder of Empathetics and medical educator, I’m advancing empathy and compassion training in medical and nursing professions.
Tell Us about Your Career Path
As a psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital and Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, I have been a clinician-researcher at MGH since completing my residency and Chief Residency in the Department of Psychiatry at Mass General Hospital. Empathy has always been of keen interest to me. As a researcher, I had the privilege of founding the Empathy and Relational Science Program at MGH, the first program of its kind, nationally. My research team’s ground-breaking research into the neurobiology of empathy demonstrated that empathy could be taught and learned by physicians. The training I developed was widely adopted locally and nationally.
Subsequently, I became the founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Empathetics, a company that provides evidence-based empathy and communication skills training for healthcare leaders, professionals and staff. Empathetics has provided empathy education for nearly 10,000 clinicians in the US and 1500 healthcare facilities. I am an author and speaker on the topic of empathy, emotional intelligence and compassion in healthcare. My research has been published in peer reviewed medical journals, including the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Journal of General Internal Medicine, Academic Medicine, American Journal of Bioethics, The Journal of Communication in Healthcare, The British Medical Journal, and Global Advances in Health and Medicine and others.
My book, The Empathy Effect has been licensed in 12 foreign countries and has been translated into Korean, Polish, and Italian, Spanish, Italian and an audio book. My TEDx talk “The power of Empathy TEDX” has been viewed more than 800,000 times. My research has won numerous awards, including the Partners (MGB) Medical Education Research Award. As a Founding Member of Newsweek’s Expert Forum and Core member of the Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations (CREIO) I have the opportunity to collaborate and share my work on extensive platforms. The teams I have brought together at MGH and Empathetics are dedicated to transforming organizational systems into compassionate care systems. Empathetics is the first and only evidence-based empathy education company in the healthcare industry.
What helped get you there?
The theory of Self Psychology, introduced by Heinz Kohut led to my deep interest in exploring empathy as an important subject in medical and nursing care. Empathy is a necessary ingredient for all patient care and is a critical factor for addressing mental health. This theory led to my interest in the neuroscience of empathy. Many individuals influenced my career, notably psychoanalyst and professor, Dr. Irene Briggin, Prof. Elizabeth Armstrong, Dr. Beth Lown, Prof. Jean Decety, Dr. Macia Scott, and Dr. Ned Cassem. I am grateful to each and every one of my mentors for sharing their brilliance and encouraging me to pursue my interests.
Are you active in any AMWA initiatives? and/or Do you hold a leadership role in AMWA. How has this shaped your view of medicine?
I am a new member who is working on creating access to the Empathetics empathy training programs for AMWA members.
What challenges have you faced in your medical career?
The biggest challenge I faced as a woman in medicine was deciding that I would not work full time while raising my young children. I reduced my FTE to75% time so that I could be at home in the afternoons when they came home from school. While this set back my promotions at the medical school by a number of years and at times made me feel anxious that I wouldn’t catch up, I don’t regret that decision now for one minute. The connections to my children and their friends are some of the most enjoyable and rewarding parts of my life.
Given your lived experiences, do you have any advice for women in medicine?
I am happy to pass along the best advice my mentors gave to me. Follow your interests and surround yourself with people who love to see you grow. By following your interests, you remain true to who you are and what you’re meant to be doing, and that is your greatest contribution to the world.
Have you had an Ah-Ha moment? or, Is there anything else that has impacted your career trajectory or work within or outside medicine that has been a significant influence?
My “Ah-Ha” moment is this: you are only as old as you feel. Don’t let anyone tell you that you’re too old to start something new. If you feel inspired to make a change, or to add something fresh and new into your life, remember, there is time for everything when you make your priorities clear to yourself and to others.