More than three decades later, Dr. Linnie Golightly can still hear the words: “You are a resourceful young woman, and you will do well.” The encouragement came to her during an interview for the Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Program (AMFDP), now the Amos Institute for Medical Faculty Development (AIMFD), while she was an infectious disease fellow. Since then, her career has taken her from Harvard Medical School and Weill Cornell Medical College to her current role as Provost and Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the CUNY School of Medicine. Through every chapter, those words have stayed with her.
“When I feel down, when I’ve been punched, I’ll think, ‘You are resourceful.’ I can’t say ‘young woman’ anymore,” she laughs. “Now it’s ‘resourceful mature woman.’ I’ve remembered that over and over again to remind myself who I am.”
Dr. Golightly first learned about the Amos program while completing her residency at Harlem Hospital. After applying twice, she was awarded the fellowship, receiving the funding she needed to continue her research and launch her faculty career at Harvard. While the financial support opened doors, it was not what left the biggest impression.
“The mentorship piece was more valuable than the money,” she says. “Mind you, I might not be here if I hadn’t received the funding—but what has been the incredible strength of the Amos program is that all the way up to the position I have now, I can still call people for advice. I can call the advisory board or my colleagues, and they continue to nurture me. Amos is this line of people who are supporting each other and bringing along the next generations.”
The Amos network became one of the defining parts of Dr. Golightly’s career. Amos mentors helped her navigate leadership opportunities, negotiate the resources she needed, and make difficult career decisions. Early on, after accepting a faculty position, an Amos mentor reviewed her startup package and told her she did not have enough support to succeed. Though she had already signed the offer, she followed his advice to negotiate for more and secured the resources she needed.
“One of the distinct values Amos brings to scholars is the knowledge that the journey may be different than you think, but that you can navigate it,” Dr. Golightly shares. “I’ve had a lot of fellowships and grants, but Amos is the one that is really long-term. This is the one that sees you through the ups and downs. It’s investing in you as a person, and that’s what makes it different.”
Today, Dr. Golightly strives to provide that same kind of mentorship as provost at the CUNY School of Medicine. Whether she’s advising faculty or helping students through difficult moments, she wants them to know that setbacks are part of the journey. Asking for help is a strength and not a weakness.
“I told my students, ‘All of us have had our stumbles. I’ve had mine too. I’m going to work with you through those stumbles. You can always come to me,’” she says. “‘I want you to promise that you’ll talk about your stumbles. Someday you’ll be sitting where I am, and you’re going to encourage other people to go on.’”
Among the many mentors who have shaped her career, none have left a greater impact than Dr. Harold Amos himself. Dr. Golightly began working more closely with him after changing research directions during her fellowship. She recalls witnessing firsthand the compassion that defined his leadership.
“Dr. Amos had this aura of humanity about him. He cared about people whether they got the fellowship or not,” she says. “I think of him a lot when I’m interacting with somebody—how he would approach them, how he would try to make people feel comfortable, and how he really thought about the total person.”
His example continues to shape both Dr. Golightly’s approach to leadership and her hopes for the future of Amos. As AIMFD enters its next chapter, she believes the program’s greatest legacy lies in the opportunities it creates and the supportive community it fosters across generations. That is what makes Amos different from any other program.
“My hope is that the Amos community continues to grow. We need it now more than ever,” she says. “The Harold Amos program planted a lot of seeds years ago, and now we’re seeing them come to fruition in a different era. We’re rooting not only for the Amos program, but for what we can do as a family.”
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