about us

Founded in 2005, the Cunniff-Dixon Foundation exists to improve the art of medicine and surgery for patients who are near or at the end of their lives. Our goal is to educate and inspire physicians and surgeons concerning their role in caring for patients in a society where more than 90% of people die from a prolonged illness.

As we are not affiliated with any one medical school and solicit no financial support from health care corporations, we believe we can best fulfill our mission through serving as a resource for individual physicians and surgeons and their professional organizations.

“The Cunniff-Dixon Foundation’s mission evokes a deep sense of responsibility to patients, a sense that I believe lies at the very heart of how surgeons define themselves.”

– Pauline W. Chen, MD, FACS, author of the Final Exam: A Surgeon’s Reflections on Mortality.