Alumni

Our alumni work in a variety of leadership roles in hospice and palliative care across the country, and have shaped our program into the educational experience it is today. Several alumni are involved in fellow small group didactics and career nights, and serve as contacts and mentors for fellows exploring career opportunities after fellowship. Many of our program faculty also graduated from our program.

Dr. Diana English,
Gyn Onc Surgeon and Palliative Care, University of South Florida,
Stanford HPM fellow 2018-2019

A number of our faculty and graduates have an active interest in narrative medicine and storytelling, and several of our fellows have published their creative work during their fellowship and taken elective time to work on their writing. 

“Bearing witness in the time of COVID” by Dr. Mukie Ramkumar

In February 2021, Dr. Mukie Ramkumar’s piece “Bearing witness in the time of COVID” was published as part of Lancet Respiratory Medicine’s call for stories - https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanres/article/PIIS2213-2600(21)00036-9/fulltext

I no longer had any other words to say as I gently touched his forehead...What was I supposed to say or do in this moment once his symptoms were managed? I usually slipped out of the room once a patient was comfortable and let family be alone during the last moments of their loved one's life. I could not leave my patient alone in this moment. Was I playing the role of a family member? Words seemed pointless. ICU doctors are very accustomed to death, but this was different. It was not supposed to be this way.

“The Labor of Storytelling” by Dr. Megan Ann Brandeland

In March 2022, Dr. Megan Brandeland published a call for shared vulnerability in “The Labor of Storytelling” in JAMA’s A Piece of My Mind. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2789656?widget=personalizedcontent&previousarticle=2730603

The labor and art of story telling has the power to transform our lives. In sharing and receiving stories, we connect more deeply to one another: We become more real, more fully human. We feel less alone. The labor of story telling is not necessarily easy, though. It requires honesty, vulnerability, and the courage to contact the wounded places within ourselves. Sadly, these are not things that most of us are taught to do as physicians. Instead, we learn early on in medical training that it is risky to be our authentic selves, to acknowledge our imperfections, and to share our struggles.