About this item
How to think and talk about serious illness, presented by a medical expert in the most caring, sensitive, and nonthreatening way.
About the Author
Steven Pantilat, MD, is a Professor of Medicine in the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, the Kates-Burnard and Hellman Distinguished Professor in Palliative Care, and the founding Director of the UCSF Palliative Care Program that received a Circle of Life Award in recognition of excellence and innovation from the American Hospital Association in 2007. Dr. Pantilat is a palliative care physician and a hospitalist, and is an internationally recognized expert in both hospital medicine and Palliative Care.
His new book for the public about living well with serious illness titled "Life After the Diagnosis: Expert Advice on Living Well with Serious Illness for Patients and their Caregivers" was published by DaCapo Lifelong Books in 2017. He has also published over 90 peer-reviewed scientific papers, authored two dozen book chapters, and co-edited with colleagues at UCSF a textbook on palliative care titled, "Care at the Close of Life" and in 2015 the textbook, "Hospital Based Palliative Medicine."
Dr. Pantilat is the Director of the UCSF Palliative Care Leadership Center that has train teams from over 200 hospitals across the country on how to establish Palliative Care Services and he consults with hospitals and health systems nationally to help them establish, implement and grow palliative care programs. He is also the Director of the Palliative Care Quality Network, a national collaboration of over 85 Palliative Care teams focused on improving the quality of care for seriously ill people. Dr. Pantilat is Board Certified in Hospice and Palliative Medicine and in Internal Medicine with Focused Practice in Hospital Medicine. Dr. Pantilat was elected a Master of Hospital Medicine by the Society of Hospital Medicine in 2014 in recognition of his many contributions to the field and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine and a Fellow of the American College of Physicians. In 2007 he was a Fulbright Senior Scholar studying palliative care at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, University of Sydney, and Curtin University in Sydney, Australia. He served as President of the Society of Hospital Medicine in 2005-6, and is a past member of the Board of Directors, and the former Chair of the Ethics committee for the Society of Hospital Medicine. Dr. Pantilat serves on the UCSF Medical Center Ethics Committee.
In 2011 Dr. Pantilat received a James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award in recognition of his work to improve the lives of Californians and in 2014 Dr. Pantilat received the Ritz E. Heerman Award from the California Hospital Association in recognition of his work to improve the quality of palliative care. Dr. Pantilat also serves as Chair of the Advisory Board for the Cambia Foundation's Sojourn Scholars Leadership Award program and on the Steering committee of the Palliative Care Research Collaborative. Dr. Pantilat was a
