What’s in a Name?
April 5th, 2022 | by Cathy Humikowski
We gathered again in the conference room, beige and windowless, at the end of a corridor in a hospital basement.
About Cathy Humikowski
Cathy Humikowski
Cathy Humikowski is a pediatric intensive care physician who trained at The University of Chicago and Harvard hospitals. She practiced in a Level I pediatric trauma center on Chicago’s south side for nearly a decade before she recognized the cumulative emotional costs of her work. In healing from burnout and secondary trauma, Cathy turned more attention toward family and creative pursuits, especially writing. Her essays have been published in JAMA and Chicago Tribune and quoted by Senator Durbin on Capitol Hill. She presents nationally on physician burnout and resilience, and is currently pitching her first book. In addition to writing and speaking, she is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Northwestern University and continues to practice clinical medicine, leaving more space between shifts for the healing such work requires. Inside this space, she raises my daughters, fusses over houseplants and a needy mutt, and makes tiny things like miniature loaves of bread for her [daughters’] dollhouse.