Palliative care is an interdisciplinary medical caregiving approach aimed at optimizing quality of life and mitigating suffering among people with serious,complex,and often terminal illnesses. Within the published literature,many definitions of palliative care exist. The World Health Organization (WHO) describes palliative care as "an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing the problems associated with life-threatening illness,through the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification and impeccable assessment and treatment of pain and other problems,physical,psychosocial,and spiritual." In the past,palliative care was a disease specific approach,but today the WHO takes a more broad approach,that the principles of palliative care should be applied as early as possible to any chronic and ultimately fatal illness.
Ira Robert Byock is an American physician,author,and advocate for palliative care. He is founder and chief medical officer of the Providence St. Joseph Health Institute for Human Caring in Torrance,California,and holds appointments as active emeritus professor of medicine and professor of community health and family medicine at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College. He was director of palliative medicine at Dartmouth–Hitchcock Medical Center,from 2003–14,and associate director for patient and family-centered care at the affiliated Norris-Cotton Cancer Center.
End-of-life care (EoLC) refers to health care provided in the time leading up to a person's death. End-of-life care can be provided in the hours,days,or months before a person dies and encompasses care and support for a person's mental and emotional needs,physical comfort,spiritual needs,and practical tasks.
A fellowship is the period of medical training,in the United States and Canada,that a physician,dentist,or veterinarian may undertake after completing a specialty training program (residency). During this time,the physician is known as a fellow. Fellows are capable of acting as an attending physician or a consultant physician in the specialist field in which they were trained,such as internal medicine or pediatrics. After completing a fellowship in the relevant sub-specialty,the physician is permitted to practice without direct supervision by other physicians in that sub-specialty,such as cardiology or oncology.
Judith A. Salerno,MD,MS is a physician executive and the President of the New York Academy of Medicine.
Diane E. Meier,an American geriatrician and palliative care specialist. In 1999,Dr. Meier founded the Center to Advance Palliative Care,a national organization devoted to increasing access to quality health care in the United States for people living with serious illness. She continues to serve as CAPC's Director Emerita and Strategic Medical Advisor. Meier is also Vice-Chair for Public Policy,Professor of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine and Catherine Gaisman Professor of Medical Ethics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. Meier was founder and Director of the Hertzberg Palliative Care Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine in New York City from 1997 to 2011.
Lisa A. Cooper is an American internal medicine and public health physician who is the Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Equity in Health and Healthcare at Johns Hopkins University,jointly appointed in the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine,Johns Hopkins School of Nursing and in the departments of Health,Behavior and Society,Health Policy and Management;Epidemiology;and International Health in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is the James F. Fries Professor of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine,Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Equity,and Director of the Johns Hopkins Urban Health Institute. Cooper is also a Gilman Scholar and a core faculty member in the Welch Center for Prevention,Epidemiology,and Clinical Research. She is internationally recognized for her research on the impact of race,ethnicity and gender on the patient-physician relationship and subsequent health disparities. She is a member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). In 2007,she received a MacArthur Fellowship ”genius”grant from the MacArthur Foundation.
In 2006,hospice and palliative medicine was officially recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties,and is co-sponsored by the American Boards of
The John A. Hartford Foundation is a private United States-based philanthropy whose current mission is to improve the care of older adults. For many years,it made grants for research and education in geriatric medicine,nursing and social work. It now focuses on three priority areas:creating age-friendly health systems,supporting family caregivers and improving serious illness,and end-of-life care.
The Binaytara Foundation (BTF) was established in 2007 by Dr. Binay Shah and wife Tara Shah with the goal of promoting health and education in underprivileged societies. The BTF is a Washington State nonprofit organization exempt from taxation pursuant to Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. At the 37th plenary meeting held July 18,2013,the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) decided to grant special consultative status to the BTF. The ECOSOC grants special consultative status to NGOs that are concerned specifically with only a few of the fields of activity covered in ECOSOC and bears special competence in that field. BTF has founded multiple programs in underdeveloped and developing countries to improve access to healthcare. Recent accomplishments include developing home hospice and palliative care in India and Nepal,and the first bone marrow transplant center in Nepal.
Consuelo H. Wilkins is an American physician,biomedical researcher,and health equity expert. She is Senior Vice President and Senior Associate Dean for Health Equity and Inclusive Excellence at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She is a professor of medicine in the Department of Medicine,Division of Geriatrics at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and has a joint appointment at Meharry Medical College. She additionally serves as one of the principal investigators of the Vanderbilt Clinical and Translational Science Award,Director of the Meharry-Vanderbilt Community Engaged Research Core (CTSA) and as vice president for Health Equity at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Marie A. Bernard,M.D. is the Chief Officer for Scientific Workforce Diversity at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Prior to this,she was the Deputy Director of the National Institute on Aging at the NIH,where she oversaw approximately $3.1 billion in research focused on aging and Alzheimer's disease. Bernard co-leads the NIH UNITE initiative,launched in 2021 to end structural racism in biomedicine. She co-chairs the Inclusion Governance Committee,which promotes inclusion in clinical research by sex/gender,race/ethnicity,and age. She also co-chairs two of the Department of Health and Human Services Healthy People 2020 objectives:1) Older Adults,and 2) Dementias,including Alzheimer's Disease. Prior to arriving at NIH in 2008,Bernard served as Donald W. Reynolds Chair in Geriatric Medicine and founding chairperson of the Donald W. Reynolds Department of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine,and Associate Chief of Staff for Geriatrics and Extended Care at the Oklahoma City Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
Margaret Ruth McCorkle FAAN,FAPOS was an international leader and award-winning pioneer in oncology nursing. She was the Florence Schorske Wald Professor of Nursing at the Yale School of Nursing.
Dr. Kathleen M. Foley is an American physician. She was an Attending Neurologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. She worked as a professor of Neurology,Neuroscience,and Clinical Pharmacology at Cornell University Weill Medical College. Foley made contributions toward making palliative care for cancer patients accessible. She headed the country's first pain service in a cancer center at Memorial Sloan-Kettering and was the medical director of the Supportive Care Program. In 1999,she became the director of the Open Society Institute’s Project on Death in America. Additionally,Foley was the Director of the WHO Collaborating Center for Cancer Pain Research and Education at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. She holds the Chair of the Society of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Pain Research and continues to work with the Open Society Institute as the Medical Director of the International Palliative Care Initiative of the Network Public Health Program of the Research.
Marcella Nunez-Smith is an American physician-scientist. She is C.N.H Long Professor of medicine and epidemiology at the Yale School of Medicine,where she serves as the inaugural Associate Dean for Health Equity Research and founding director of the Equity Research and Innovation Center. She also holds joint appointments at the Yale School of Public Health and the Yale School of Management. After co-chairing the Biden-Harris transition’s COVID-19 Advisory Board from November 2020 to January 2021,she was selected by President Joe Biden to serve as Senior Advisor to the White House COVID-19 Response Team and Chair of the Presidential COVID-19 Equity Task Force.
Katrina Alison Armstrong is an American internist. She is the chief executive officer of the Columbia University Irving Medical Center and Dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. Armstrong is the first woman to lead Columbia's medical school and medical center. Previously,she was the first woman to hold the position of Physician-in-Chief at Massachusetts General Hospital and was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2013 and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2020.
Diana Joyce Wilkie is an American nurse researcher. She is the Prairieview Trust-Earl and Margo Powers Endowed Professor at the University of Florida (UFL). Wilkie was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2012.
A. Eugene Washington is an American clinical investigator who is the Chancellor for Health Affairs and the President and chief executive officer of the Duke University Health System. His research considers gynaecology,health disparities and public health policy. He was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 1997.
Ramona Rhodes is an American geriatrician and physician.
Ndidiamaka Nneoma Amutah-Onukagha is an American physician who is the Julia A. Okoro Professor of Black Maternal Health at the Tufts University School of Medicine. Her research considers women's health disparities in Black women. Amutah-Onukagha is the inaugural Tufts University Assistant Dean of Diversity,Equity,and Inclusion for Public Health. She was named the American Public Health Association Maternal and Child Health Section's Young Professional of the Year in 2019.
