World Hospice and Palliative Care Day With Richa Thakur, MD, and Nida Khan, MD

October 12 is World Hospice and Palliative Care Day, a day to raise awareness of the essential services that improve quality of life, offer support, and provide comfort for individuals with life-limiting illnesses. In honor of this day, Fellows Forum members Dr. Nida Khan, a Medical Oncology and Palliative Care Fellow at The Ohio State University, and Dr. Richa Thakur, Palliative Care Physician and Hematology/Oncology Fellow at Northwell Health, discuss their unique experiences with training and working in palliative care, including:

• The story behind World Hospice and Palliative Care Day and this year’s commemoration of 10 years since the World Health Assembly’s resolution calling for all countries to strengthen their palliative care competencies
• Stigma surrounding hospice and palliative care and what these terms really mean
• Raising awareness that palliative care can be started at diagnosis of an illness, not just in end stages
• Differences in palliative care on the global level and efforts to make it a human right around the world
• Different training pathways that incorporate palliative care and opportunities for trainees who are interested in pursuing this direction
• And more!

“Palliative care can really apply to any field. In my fellowship, I’ve had folks from neurology, physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R), emergency medicine, and surgery specialties. Really anyone and everyone who is training in any medical care specialty can seek to do a palliative care fellowship because of how beneficial it is for your training. There are a lot of options out there if anyone who is listening to this wants to do a palliative care fellowship. There’s a lot out there for you to get that formal training.” – Nida Khan, MD

“My palliative care fellowship was the best year of my life, and I’ll never regret that year. So if you’re considering it, you should definitely apply.” – Richa Thakur, MD

About Dr. Khan and Dr. Thakur

Nida Khan, MD, is a Medical Oncology and Palliative Care Fellow at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. She is passionate about treating cancer and cancer-related symptoms, with a focus in thoracic malignancies. She also has specific interests in global health and education as applied to palliative care and oncology. Dr. Khan has taken part in several global health initiatives, including working with palliative care and oncology patients in Uganda.

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.