People Profiles: Dr. Munish Goyal

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Munish Goyal, MD, (Emergency Medicine)

Munish Goyal, MD, (Emergency Medicine) almost decided not to go into medicine. He even briefly changed his undergraduate major from biology to business. That is, until an experience shadowing a retinal surgeon during the AIDS epidemic in Washington, D.C., made a lasting impression on him.

It was 1994 and he wasn’t enjoying his science classes, particularly organic chemistry (a sentiment many pre-med students likely can appreciate). Dr. Goyal’s father reminded him that organic chemistry was not medicine and suggested he spend some time with a physician before making a final decision.

Dr. Goyal began to shadow a retinal surgeon who was seeing patients with AIDS retinopathy at the Whitman-Walter Clinic. “Watching him balance his scientific knowledge with the humanistic component made me realize this is what I want to do. I want to be able to understand the content well enough that I can explain to someone without any medical background what was happening with their body.”

As an attending physician in the Emergency Department at MedStar Washington Hospital Center and a Professor at the Georgetown University School of Medicine, helping his residents and medical students make these same connections is what he enjoys most in his day to day.

“Highlighting to people why all of the time and energy that they spent in medical school matters – drawing connections real time between that first or second year of medical school pharmacology and physiology and what they’re seeing in front of them – it makes it so much more interesting and more relevant,” he explains.

MedStar Health GME provides a highly unique and interesting place to learn and make those connections, according to Dr. Goyal. Because MedStar Washington Hospital Center sees patients from a large portion of the Washington, D.C., metro area, residents can see and do so much more than they might in another hospital and often have the opportunity to treat conditions that are less common.

Dr. Goyal holds a number of leadership positions at MedStar Health, including Director of the MedStar Medical Student Scholars Program for rising 2nd year Georgetown medical students. He’s also Chair of the MedStar Health Research Institute (MHRI) Institutional Review Board, co-Chair of the MedStar Health P+T Committee, and Director of Faculty Education, Research, and the Section of Critical Care for the emergency medicine service line.

He credits his inspiring mentors, incredible  peers, and supportive wife as the things that have most helped him succeed at MedStar Health. And, at the end of the day, Dr. Goyal just really enjoys medical education.

“I like teaching. I get to be around residents and medical students, and they keep things fresh and interesting.”

Dr. Heather Hartman Hall

People Profiles: Dr. Heather Hartman-Hall

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Dr. Heather Hartman Hall

Heather Hartman-Hall, PhD (Clinical Psychology)

Heather Hartman-Hall, PhD (Clinical Psychology) is a Baltimore Orioles fanatic. She almost never misses a game. As a lifelong Marylander, she’s always rooted for the team but really got into the sport when her son started playing and her daughter picked up softball. Dr. Hartman-Hall brings this same level of commitment and dedication to supporting those she cares about to her work as the Clinical Director of Behavioral Health Initiatives at MedStar Health’s Center for Wellbeing and as an Associate Program Director (APD) for the Internal Medicine residency in Baltimore.

“Our residents and fellows are amazing. I’m inspired by them every day. They’re an incredibly bright, dedicated, energetic group of people who have chosen to take care of people for a living. I feel so lucky to get to work with them,” she said.

As the Clinical Director at the Center for Wellbeing, Dr. Hartman-Hall supports the mental health needs of all MedStar Health associates, but she also serves as a liaison to the graduate medical education (GME) community.

“I work closely with GME leadership to make sure we’re being thoughtful about the particular needs of residents and fellows in our system, both from a mental health perspective, but also by helping them thrive,” Dr. Hartman-Hall said.

MedStar Health has long placed a high priority on supporting and encouraging wellbeing, but the COVID-19 pandemic really brought this work into focus. Thus, the Center for Wellbeing was born. This innovative program provides system-wide wellbeing resources, including a wide variety of offerings outside of strictly mental health support, such as financial wellbeing resources, backup childcare resources, coaching, and more.

“We think of [wellbeing] more holistically,” Dr. Hartman-Hall explained. “How do we create a well workplace? How do we make sure that our interactions with each other support wellness? We want to make sure that MedStar is a healthy place to work, as well as helping you be a healthy person at work.”

This is a mission that MedStar Health takes seriously. Especially for residents and fellows.

“One of the reasons we talk so much about wellbeing in healthcare and especially for physicians, especially for those in medical training, is that healthcare systems have not always done it well. Now we’re the culture of medicine, so MedStar recognizes that we must be an organization that promotes wellness and invests in our shared responsibility for wellbeing and professional fulfillment.”

On a local level, Dr. Hartman-Hall gets to put this work into action during her work as an APD. “It’s rewarding to be there in a moment when our residents need something to feel their best or to encourage them and get to watch them shine as they take care of patients.”

Importantly, Dr. Hartman-Hall knows that her colleagues share this dedication to supporting and caring for the wellbeing of residents and fellows – and each other.

“I’ve never felt like I’m doing this work alone.”