William Breitbart

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William S. Breitbart, FAPM (born 1951), is an American psychiatrist in Psychosomatic Medicine, Psycho-oncology, and Palliative Care. He is the Jimmie C Holland Chair in Psychiatric Oncology, and the Chief of the Psychiatry Service, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (New York, NY), [1] He is a Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Weill Medical College of Cornell University. [2] He was president of the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine, [3] and the Editor-in-Chief of Palliative and Supportive Care.

Contents

He is an attending psychiatrist in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, the Palliative Care Service of the Department of Medicine at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and at the New York Presbyterian Hospital.

Breitbart was a founding board member of the American Psycho-Oncology Society (APOS) and the International Psycho-Oncology Society (IPOS) [4] and a president. .

Early life and education

William Breitbart was born in 1951 and raised on the Lower East Side of Manhattan with his younger brother, Sheldon. He attended Yeshiva at the Rabbi Jacob Joseph School on Henry Street before attending Stuyvesant High School.

Breitbart graduated from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University (New York, NY), and completed residencies in Internal Medicine and General Psychiatry at the Bronx Municipal Hospital Center - Jacobi Hospital. [5] He continued his fellowship training in Psychosomatic Medicine and Psycho-oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, receiving both a Clinical Fellowship Award (1985–1986) and a Career Development Award (1986–1989) from the American Cancer Society. Breitbart is Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Psychiatry, and Psychosomatic Medicine.

Career and research

Breitbart has been the chief of psychiatry at MSKCC since 1996, [6] and was the director of the ACGME Accredited Fellowship Training Program in Psychosomatic Medicine there. He has been vice-chairman of the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at MSKCC since 2009, and was named interim chairman in June 2012. In October 2014 Breitbart was appointed chairman of the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, and holds the Jimmie C Holland Chair in Psychiatric Oncology at MSKCC. [7]

Breitbart's clinical role as the Consulting Psychiatrist for the Pain and Palliative Care Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center led him to focus his research efforts on the psychiatric aspects of end-of-life care. He has received continuous funding for investigator initiated research since 1989, including eight National Institute of Health funded projects, four National Institute of Mental Health funded projects, four National Cancer Institute funded projects, [8] and seven privately funded research projects.

Much of his early research focused on the neuropsychiatric problems of HIV-infected patients, including pain, fatigue, delirium and other symptoms that impact quality of life. [9] As Breitbart's clinical experiences brought more attention to the terminally ill patients’ desire for hastened death, he began to study the psychological and psychosocial factors associated with this desire for death among the terminally ill population. Breitbart and his colleagues began to reframe the concept of despair at the end of life, expanding the concerns of palliative and supportive care beyond symptom management. In addition to constructs such as depression and anxiety, they found that factors such as hopelessness, loss of meaning, and decreased spiritual well-being contributed greatly to the dying patients’ sense of suffering. Breitbart also participates in a multi-centered research trial dealing with dignity-conserving care in palliative care settings.

Breitbart's most recent research efforts involve the development of novel psychotherapeutic interventions, which he has named "Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy", aimed at sustaining meaning and improving spiritual well-being in the terminally ill. In an interview for the international journal Innovations in End-of-Life Care, Breitbart refers to the works of existential theorists/philosophers, particularly Viktor Frankl. Frankl's meaning-based model of logotherapy and his book Man’s Search for Meaning had a significant influence on Breitbart and directed the goals of his work towards the concept of helping dying patients to maintain meaning at the end of life through "Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy". [10]

Breitbart and colleagues have developed both an individual and group model of "Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy", inspired by Frankl's work. [11] These novel interventions are aimed at helping patients sustain and enhance a sense of purpose and meaning in life through various psycho-education tasks, and in turn improve their overall quality of life as they encounter their mortality. [10]

Honors and awards

Breitbart was a Soros Faculty Scholar of the Open Society Institute, Project on Death in America.

He has served as a member of the board of directors of the American Pain Society and was a panel member for the American Psychiatric Association Guidelines for the Management of Delirium. He is an active member of the International Association for the Study of Pain and a panel member of the NIH Behavioral Medicine Study Section.

Breitbart has served as the president of the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine (2007-8), as well as president of the International Psycho-oncology Society(2008–10).

Breitbart has been honored as a Plenary Lecturer at various international conferences, including the 8th World Congress on Pain, the 16th Annual American Pain Society Scientific Meeting, and the 5th World Congress of Psycho-Oncology. He is the recipient of the 2003 Research Award of the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine, the 2006 Donald Oken Award from the American Psychosomatic Society, the 2009 Arthur Sutherland Award for lifetime achievement from the International Psycho-oncology Society, and the 2011 Eleanor & Thomas Hackett Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine.

In addition, Breitbart has been recognized as one of New York Magazine's "Best Doctors" every year since 2002, [12] and is the recipient of the 2009 Willet F. Whitmore Award for Clinical Excellence from Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Publications

Breitbart has published extensively on psychiatric aspects of cancer, AIDS, and end-of-life care. He has edited/co-edited five textbooks including Psycho-Oncology, Psychiatric Aspects of Symptom Management in the Cancer Patient, Handbook of Psychiatry in Palliative Medicine, and Psychosocial Aspects of Pain: A Handbook for Health Care Providers. Breitbart is Editor-in Chief of Cambridge University Press’ international palliative care journal, Palliative & Supportive Care, [13] which focuses on the psychiatric, psychosocial, and spiritual aspects of palliative medicine. Breitbart also helped found the publication arm of the International Psycho-Oncology Society, the IPOS Press. Breitbart had published over 160 peer reviewed publications and 200 chapters and review papers. [14] He serves on the Editorial/Review Boards for various international peer reviewed journals and books, including:

Personal life

Breitbart was a child of Holocaust survivors, "Moishe" and Rose.

Breitbart currently resides on the Upper East Side of Manhattan with his wife, Rachel, and son, Samuel.

Bibliography

Journal editorships

1. Breitbart W, Chochinov H, guest editors. Journal of Psychosomatic Research Special Issue Psycho-oncology Research: 45:3, 1998.

2. Palliative and Supportive Care, William Breitbart, M.D., Editor-in-Chief, Cambridge University Press, 2003 to Present. This is the first international palliative care journal (quarterly) that focuses on psychiatric, psycho-social, existential aspects of palliative medicine.

Books

1. Psychiatric Aspects of Symptom Management in Cancer Patients. Edited by Breitbart W, Holland JC, American Psychiatric Press, Washington DC, 1993.

2. Jacox A, Carr DB, Payne R, Berde C, Breitbart W, Cain JM, Chapman CR, Cleeland CS, Ferrell BR, Finley RS, Hester NO, Stratton Hill Jr. C. Leak DW. Lipman AG, Logan CL, McGarvey CL, Miaskowski CA, Mulder CS, Paice JA, Shapiro BS, Silberstein EB, Smith RS, Stover J, Park S, Tsou CV, Veccheriarelli L, Weissman DE. Management of Cancer Pain: Clinical Practice guideline No. 9. AHCPR Pub. No. 94-0592. Rockville, MD: Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources, Public Health Service, March, 1994.

3. Holland J (ed.), Breitbart W, Jacobsen P, Lederberg M, Loscalzo M, Massie MJ, McCorkle R (co-eds.). Textbook of Psycho-oncology. Oxford University Press, New York, 1998.

4. Handbook of Psychiatry in Palliative Medicine. Chochinov H and Breitbart W (eds.). Oxford University Press. New York, 2000.

5. Psychosocial Aspects of Pain: A Handbook for Health Care Providers. Progress in Pain Research and Management, Volume 27. Dworkin R and Breitbart W (eds.). IASP Press, Seattle, 2003.

6. Handbook of Psychiatry in Palliative Medicine 2nd Edition. Chochinov H and Breitbart W (eds.). Oxford University Press. New York, 2009.

7. Psycho-oncology 2nd Edition. Holland J, Breitbart W, Jacobsen P, Lederberg M, Loscalzo M, McCorkle R (eds.). Oxford University Press, New York, 2010.

Journals (editorships)

Related Research Articles

Psychosomatic medicine is an interdisciplinary medical field exploring the relationships among social, psychological, behavioral factors on bodily processes and quality of life in humans and animals.

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 problem 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".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center</span> Treatment and research hospital in New York City

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center is a cancer treatment and research institution in Manhattan in New York City. MSKCC is one of 72 National Cancer Institute–designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers. Its main campus is located at 1275 York Avenue between 67th and 68th Streets in Manhattan.

Psycho-oncology is an interdisciplinary field at the intersection of physical, psychological, social, and behavioral aspects of the cancer experience for both patients and caregivers. Also known as psychiatric oncology or psychosocial oncology, researchers and practitioners in the field are concerned with aspects of individuals' experience with cancer beyond medical treatment, and across the cancer trajectory, including at diagnosis, during treatment, transitioning to and throughout survivorship, and approaching the end-of-life. Founded by Jimmie Holland in 1977 via the incorporation of a psychiatric service within the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, the field has expanded drastically since and is now universally recognized as an integral component of quality cancer care. Cancer centers in major academic medical centers across the country now uniformly incorporate a psycho-oncology service into their clinical care, and provide infrastructure to support research efforts to advance knowledge in the field.

Monica Morrow is a breast cancer surgeon and Chief of Breast Surgery at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan, NYC. Her first day seeing patients in clinic as Chief at MSKCC was Tuesday, February 19, 2008. She formerly served as the chairman of surgical oncology at the Fox Chase Cancer Center. She is the President-elect of the Society for Surgical Oncology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">José Baselga</span> Spanish oncologist (1959–2021)

Josep Baselga i Torres, known in Spanish as José Baselga, was a Spanish medical oncologist and researcher focused on the development of novel molecular targeted agents, with a special emphasis in breast cancer. Through his career he was associated with the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology, and the Massachusetts General Hospital in their hematology and oncology divisions. He led the development of the breast cancer treatment Herceptin, a monoclonal antibody, that targets the HER2 protein, which is impacted in aggressive breast cancers.

Roger Granet is an American psychiatrist and the author and editor of over twenty books explaining mental disorders and diseases. Dr. Granet specializes in psycho-oncology, which deals with the psychological reactions of cancer patients. The field is considered an integral part of quality cancer treatment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barrie R. Cassileth</span> American medical sociologist (1938–2022)

Barrie Joyce Rabinowitz Cassileth was an American medical sociologist and researcher of complementary medicine and a critic of alternative medicine. She published extensively on alternative cancer treatments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oncology</span> Branch of medicine dealing with, or specializing in, cancer

Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis, and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an oncologist. The name's etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγκος (ónkos), meaning "tumor", "volume" or "mass". Oncology is concerned with:

Robert E. Wittes was Physician-in-Chief of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, from 2002 until December 31, 2012. Prior to his appointment at MSKCC, he was Deputy Director for Extramural Sciences and Director of the Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis at the National Cancer Institute, where he oversaw NCI's extramural clinical and basic research programs, including the evaluation of new therapeutics, diagnostics, and translational research. Wittes is a fellow of the American College of Physicians, a member of the American Association for Cancer Research, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and the American Federation for Medical Research. In addition to his institutional affiliations, Dr. Wittes has served as editor-in-chief of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute and Oncology. He has served on the editorial boards of Clinical Cancer Research, Current Opinion in Oncology, The American Journal of Clinical Oncology; Cancer Investigation, and The International Journal of Radiation Oncology-Biology & Physics, among others.

George Bosl is an American cancer researcher, holder of the Patrick M. Byrne Chair in Clinical Oncology at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, and is a professor of medicine at the Weill Cornell Medical College. In 1997, he was appointed chair of the Department of Medicine at Sloan-Kettering, a position which he held until 2015. In 2019, he was named Memorial Sloan Kettering's first ombudsperson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenneth Offit</span> American geneticist

Kenneth Offit is an American cancer geneticist and oncologist known for his discoveries with respect to the genetic bases of breast, colorectal, and lymphoid cancers. He is currently Chief of the Clinical Genetics Service and the Robert and Kate Niehaus Chair in Inherited Cancer Genomics at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Offit is also a member of the Program in Cancer Biology and Genetics at the Sloan-Kettering Institute and Professor of Medicine and Healthcare Policy and Research at Weill Cornell Medical College. He was previously a member of both the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Cancer Institute and the Evaluation of Genomic Applications in Practice and Prevention working group of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jimmie C. Holland</span> American psychiatrist

Jimmie Coker Holland was a founder of the field of psycho-oncology. In 1977, she worked with two colleagues to establish a full-time psychiatric service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. The program was one of the first of its kind in cancer treatment, and trained its psychologists to specialize in issues specific to people with cancer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harvey Chochinov</span> Canadian academic and psychiatrist

Harvey Max Chochinov is a Canadian academic and psychiatrist from Winnipeg, Canada. He is a leading authority on the emotional dimensions of end-of-life, and on supportive and palliative care. He is a Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Manitoba and a Senior Scientist at CancerCare Manitoba Research Institute.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeffrey Drebin</span> American physician

Jeffrey Drebin is a surgeon and scientist. He serves as the Department of Surgery Chair at Memorial Sloan Kettering.

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.

Professor David William Kissane, AC is an Australian psychiatrist specialising in psychiatric oncology and palliative care. Since 2018, he has been the inaugural Chair in Palliative Medicine Research at the University of Notre Dame Australia. He has also held professorships at the University of Melbourne, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, and Monash University. In 2008, he received the Arthur M. Sutherland Award of the International Psycho-Oncology Society (IPOS). On 26 January 2018 he was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia. Professor Kissane has been described as an "opponent of euthanasia legislation who co-authored a landmark report with Dr Nitschke into the deaths that occurred under the NT's euthanasia laws".

Carol L. Brown is the Nicholls-Biondi Chair for Health Equity at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and a professor at Weill Cornell Medical College. She is a surgeon known for her work on gynecological cancers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Psychosocial distress</span> Medical condition

Psychosocial distress refers to the unpleasant emotions or psychological symptoms an individual has when they are overwhelmed, which negatively impacts their quality of life. Psychosocial distress is most commonly used in medical care to refer to the emotional distress experienced by populations of patients and caregivers of patients with complex chronic conditions such as cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular conditions, which confer heavy symptom burdens that are often overwhelming, due to the disease's association with death. Due to the significant history of psychosocial distress in cancer treatment, and a lack of reliable secondary resources documenting distress in other contexts, psychosocial distress will be mainly discussed in the context of oncology.

References

  1. ↑ "William S. Breitbart - Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center". www.mskcc.org. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
  2. ↑ "Weill Cornell Physicians" . Retrieved 31 December 2017.
  3. ↑ "APM Organization" . Retrieved 31 December 2017.
  4. ↑ "APOS :: Webcasts :: Faculty" . Retrieved 31 December 2017.
  5. ↑ "William Breitbart Named Vice Chair of Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences | Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center". www.mskcc.org. Retrieved 2016-12-09.
  6. ↑ "William S. Breitbart | Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center". www.mskcc.org. Retrieved 2016-12-09.
  7. ↑ "Open Society Foundations". Open Society Foundations. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
  8. ↑ "Projects and Investigators - Active Projects" . Retrieved 31 December 2017.
  9. ↑ http://live4life.tv/images/ScrollBoxDrBreitbartNew.swf [ dead link ]
  10. 1 2 Breitbart W, Heller KS. Reframing hope: Meaning-centered care for patients near the end of life. An interview with William Breitbart. Innovations in End-of-Life Care. 2002;4(6):www.edc.org/lastacts
  11. ↑ Breitbart, William; Rosenfeld, Barry; Gibson, Christopher; Pessin, Hayley; Poppito, Shannon; Nelson, Christian; Tomarken, Alexis; Timm, Anne Kosinski; Berg, Amy (2016-12-28). "Meaning-centered group psychotherapy for patients with advanced cancer: a pilot randomized controlled trial". Psycho-oncology. 19 (1): 21–28. doi:10.1002/pon.1556. ISSN   1057-9249. PMC   3648880 . PMID   19274623.
  12. ↑ "New York's Best Doctors and Health Features -- New York Magazine". nymag.com. Retrieved 2016-12-28.
  13. ↑ "Palliative & Supportive Care - Cambridge Core". Cambridge Core. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
  14. ↑ "EOL Conference". www3.uakron.edu. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
  1. Official website for the International Psycho-oncology Society
  2. Psycho-oncology
  3. John Blamphin talks with William S. Breitbart, M.D.
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