Dr. Christine Ritchie is the Kenneth L. Minaker Endowed Chair in Geriatrics and Director of Research for the Division of Palliative Care and Geriatric Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. She directs the Center for Optimal Aging and Serious Illness Research at MGB and co-directs the Bridge the GapT32 program. Over the course of her career, Dr. Ritchie has built and led palliative care programs and run research programs focused on the intersection of geriatrics and palliative care. Dr. Ritchie is board certified in geriatrics and palliative care, with long-standing experience in clinical care delivery and advanced illness research.
She is past president of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM) and currently on the Board of the International Neuropalliative Care Society. Dr. Ritchie has longstanding funding from NIH and foundations and is the author/co-author of over 400 publications. She is the recipient of the Palliative Medicine National Leadership Award and AAHPM Excellence in Scientific Research in Palliative Care.
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Dr. James Tulsky is the Poorvu Jaffe Chair, Department of Supportive Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Chief, Division of Palliative Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School. Dr. Tulsky has published widely in the areas of clinician-patient communication and quality of life in serious illness, particularly for patients with advanced cancer. His work has been recognized with the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (2002), the Award for Research Excellence from the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (2006), the George L. Engel Award from the American Academy on Communication in Healthcare (2013), and the American Cancer Society Pathfinder in Palliative Care award (2014). In 2017, he was named a Hospice and Palliative Medicine Visionary by AAHPM.
He serves on the Board of the Greenwall Foundation (Chair, 2018-2023), Chair of the National Palliative Care Research Center Scientific Advisory Council, and from 2016-22 was Co-Chair of the Roundtable on Quality Care in Serious Illness of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine. He is a Founding Director of VitalTalk (www.vitaltalk.org), a non-profit devoted to communication skills teaching and promotes a vision that every seriously ill patient will be surrounded by clinicians who can speak about what matters most and match care to values.