Palliative Care and Oncology: Partners in Patient Care With Richa Thakur, MD, and Janet Abrahm, MD
Expert Perspectives · Keira Smith · 2024-08-23
In this Fellows Forum podcast episode, Dr. Richa Thakur, Palliative Care Physician and Hematology/Oncology Fellow at Northwell Health, speaks with Dr. Janet Abrahm, one of the founders of the field of palliative care in the United States.
Dr. Abrahm shares insights into her career and research in palliative care, including:
- How palliative care in oncology isn’t just for end of life—it’s for enhancing patient outcomes
- How palliative care serves as a partner for the oncology team
- The value of palliative care training for hematology/oncology fellows
- How to cope with the moral distress and compassion fatigue that clinicians may experience when treatment doesn’t work for their patients
- The stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance) and how they can be experienced by both patients and clinicians
- The importance for both oncology and palliative care fellows to find an outlet for their grief
- Dr. Abrahm’s website and book, “Comprehensive Guide to Supportive and Palliative Care for Patients with Cancer,” which feature a wealth of information for busy practicing oncology and palliative care clinicians
- And more!
Richa Thakur: “What should our audience know about palliative care and palliative oncology?”
Janet Abrahm, MD: “I hope that they think of us as supportive oncology. We’re here to support them, their teams, and their patients and families, so that the patients have the best chance of a prolonged life, of a cure, and of living the best possible quality of life, even extending life whenever possible. We’re there as support, and we’re there as partners.”
About Dr. Thakur and Dr. Abrahm
Richa Thakur, MD, is both a Palliative Care Physician and Hematology/Oncology Fellow at Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell Health. She graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a bachelor’s in chemistry, medical school at Texas A&M, residency in Internal Medicine, and a fellowship Palliative Care at Zucker School of Medicine. Her research interests include improving quality of life in patients diagnosed with hematologic malignancies.
Janet Abrahm, MD, is a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She is a former practicing oncologist and an expert in the field of palliative care for cancer. Dr. Abrahm has more than 20 years of experience at the forefront of palliative care and has written four books on supportive care, palliative care, and cancer pain management. She is passionate about reframing palliative care for patients with cancer, their families, and practicing clinicians.
For More Information
Janet Abrahm, MD (2024). Available at: https://janetabrahm.com/
Abrahm JL, Collins ME, Daubman BR (2022). Comprehensive guide to supportive and palliative care for patients with cancer. 4th ed. Johns Hopkins University Press.