Five Physicians Honored for Exemplary Care Near the End-of-Life

A pioneer in establishing palliative care as a medical specialty is one of the five American physicians honored for improving the care of patients near the end of life such that maximum comfort and function are both maintained. Others include geriatricians and pediatricians. They were named recipients of the second annual Hastings Center Cunniff-Dixon Physician Awards in January 2011.

The awards are given by the Cunniff-Dixon Foundation with the mission to enrich the doctor-patient relationship near the end of life. The nomination and selection process was administered by The Duke Institute on Care at the End of Life.

The recipients were drawn from a national group of nominees. “This year’s awardees represent the very best traditions of the humanism of medicine and the best in doctoring,” said selection committee member Richard Payne, MD, Esther Colliflower Director of the Duke Institute on Care at the End of Life, and a Hastings Center board member.

“Palliative medicine was a dream years ago, when The Hastings Center began working to improve compassion and care at the end of life, but these five physicians have helped make that dream a reality,” said Thomas Murray, president of The Hastings Center. “We are pleased to help reward their leadership and dedication to this field.”

Ann Allegre, MD, FACP, FAAHPM, director of medical programs at Kansas City Hospice and Palliative Care in Kansas City, Mo., received the senior physician award of $25,000, and AnthonyNicholas Galanos, MA, MD, medical director of the Duke University Hospital Palliative Care Service in Durham, N.C., received the midcareer physician award, also of $25,000. Early career awards of $15,000 were given to Stefan J. Friedrichsdorf, MD, medical director of the Department of Pain Medicine, Palliative Care, and Integrative Medicine at Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota; Savithri Nageswaran, MBBS, MPH, assistant professor of pediatrics at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center; and Eric W. Widera, MD, director of the Hospice and Palliative Care Service of San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center and an assistant professor of geriatrics at the University of California San Francisco.