Courage, Care, and What We Carry Forward

Welcome back, dear colleague!

As the year comes to a close, we’ve been sitting with the voices that shaped our Courageous Conversations over the past months and we noticed one shared thread:

👉 Care is not passive. Care is an act of courage.

We heard it when Dr. Victor Montori reminded us that being human means caring, about the world, about each other, and about ourselves, even when it feels easier to look away.

We heard it when Dr. Michael Fine described primary care not as a “cost,” but as a triple superpower: keeping people out of emergency rooms, preventing future disease, and managing chronic illness through strong teams rooted in community.

We heard it when Dr. Rishi Manchanda named something many clinicians feel but rarely say out loud: that being overwhelmed and outraged is not a failure: it’s a natural response to unjust systems. And that courage, when practiced together, can be contagious. Love, when organized, can sustain movements.

We heard it when Dr. Frances Stewart reminded us that plans alone don’t save lives: planning does. Leadership shows up not through perfect playbooks, but through presence, preparation, and learning together in uncertainty.

We heard it when Dr. Don Berwick told us that courage isn’t just one virtue among many: it’s the form every virtue takes when it’s tested.

And we heard it when Baroness Anne Marie Rafferty named the quiet reality so many nurses face: systems that ask for courage, but punish truth-telling. Initiatives without safety. Voices without protection.

Taken together, these conversations tell a clear story about this moment in healthcare:

Clinical excellence matters, but it isn’t enough on its own.
Individual resilience matters, but it can’t replace collective action.
And courage is not something we summon alone, it’s something we practice together.

That belief is why the Courageous Clinicians Community exists.

It’s a space for clinicians and public health leaders who want more than survival. More than burnout fixes and more than isolated heroism.

It’s for those who want to think together, learn together, organize together and step beyond the clinic into policy, community, and public life.

As we move toward a new year, we’re carrying forward what this year taught us:
• Care is political and personal
• Leadership is relational, not positional
• Community is not optional, it’s essential

✨ If these reflections resonate, we invite you to join us.

The work continues and it’s better when we do it together. Wishing you rest, reflection, and renewed courage as we head into the new year. Watch some of the best courageous moments of 2025 here: