As I reached the 6-month mark in my "year away" in New Zealand, I thought I would write some reflections about patient care and personal growth and how they can go hand in hand.

It is fitting this week to have some thoughts about the horrible tragedy in Boston recently. This memo is from Pam Adelstein, MD, faculty member at Codman Square Health Center in Dorchester, who always has a reflective view of what is happening around her and how it relates to her, her family, the community and her patients.

Christopher Garofalo, MD, Hahnemann Family Health Center residency graduate and current community doctor in North and South Attleboro, has written about his experience with a difficult patient.

First-year medical student Benjamin Adler has reflected on the early lessons of learning how to be a doctor through excellent role modeling.

Associate professor Barry Saver, MD, MPH, a faculty member at Family Health Center of Worcester, continues with the theme of being there for a patient and the family at the end of life. His story is about the powerful role we play in each person’s life that we touch, sometimes more powerful than we know.

Mary Lindholm, MD, assistant professor of family medicine & community health, a member of the UMass Memorial Medical Adult Primary Care practice and director of the Family Medicine Clerkship for medical students, shows how a family doctor, and only a family doctor, can care for the entire family.

Warren Ferguson, MD, professor and vice chair of family medicine & community health, writes about the moments in our professional lives when we are conflicted between going above and beyond for patients and having it bleed into our personal time, with a mix of emotions ranging from guilt to pride.

School of Medicine graduate and family medicine resident at the Barre Family Health Center, Noah Rosenberg, MD, has captured so many aspects of what all good clinicians should embrace within family and patient-centered care.