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Meet The Faculty

Mayo Clinic hospice and palliative medicine fellows at morning conference

The Center for Palliative Medicine at Mayo Clinic delivers intraprofessional team-based care for patients and families dealing with serious illness. Care is led by certified, subspecialty palliative medicine clinicians and uses a multidisciplinary approach to patient care, relying on input from physicians, advanced practice clinicians, pharmacists, nurses, chaplains, social workers, psychologists, and other allied health professionals in formulating a plan of care to relieve suffering in all areas of a patient's life. The goal of the program is to bring palliative services to the right patient at the right time within their disease trajectory.

Palliative medicine is intimately aligned with the primary values, mission, and vision of Mayo Clinic. The Center for Palliative Medicine involves resources, support, and collaboration from all sites across the Mayo system. This includes Scottsdale, Arizona; Jacksonville, Florida; Rochester, Minnesota; and the community-based practices within Mayo Clinic Health System. This unique partnership leverages the strengths of each individual site to maximize our mission.

Palliative medicine supports strategic growth in areas such as transplant, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and neurosciences.

From the program director

April Christensen, M.D., M.S.

Welcome! The Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship at Mayo Clinic's campus in Rochester, Minnesota, offers you the opportunity to train at a unique institution with a long history of providing excellent multidisciplinary, personalized care to patients with serious illnesses.

Mayo Clinic has fully embraced the specialty of palliative medicine, and we enjoy robust and enthusiastic support at all levels. Our fellowship began in 2007, and our graduates are emerging leaders in the field. Starting the academic year of 2022, we are proud to launch our first intraprofessional fellowship class.

Mayo Clinic is consistently ranked as one of the top medical institutions in the country. We have expertise in virtually every area of medicine and surgery, providing integrated multidisciplinary, patient-centered care to patients and families with complex serious illness.

The objective of the fellowship is to train future academic leaders in the field of hospice and palliative medicine by using Mayo Clinic's three-shield approach: clinical practice, education, and research.

Our three inpatient consultation teams provide over 10,000 inpatient visits every year, and we serve 54,000 patient visits in our robust full-time interdisciplinary outpatient palliative medicine clinic. You gain clinical expertise in the management of all aspects of subspecialty palliative medicine. You work closely with experts in the field of hospice and palliative medicine and have opportunities to participate in educational conferences on a regular basis. We offer many opportunities for research, and you regularly present at national meetings.

Graduates from our program possess expert symptom management skills — for example, the ability to prescribe and manage methadone and ketamine as well as evaluate and administer palliative sedation. Graduates possess the skills necessary to administrate a hospice in the role of hospice medical director. By year-end, you are an expert in navigating high-stakes, complex dialogue as well as multifaceted psychosocial and cross-cultural scenarios.

In short, upon graduation, you are practicing at the pinnacle of subspecialty palliative medicine.

This website provides you with an overview of our fellowship and the approach to patient care, education, and research at Mayo Clinic. If you have additional questions, contact us for more information. Thank you for your interest in our program.

April Christensen, M.D., M.S.
Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship Program Director

Faculty

Faculty members are committed to patient care, research, and education in their daily practices. Our consultants work with fellows providing education via daily bedside teaching rounds, didactics, and informal educational discussions. Based on Mayo Clinic's tenets, consultants are always readily available to provide you with advice and guidance.

Core faculty

Claudia Chou, M.D.

Claudia Chou, M.D.

Associate Program Director

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Advisers and mentors

Faculty advisers are available to provide comprehensive educational advice and personal support. You meet with your adviser periodically throughout the program to review your progress and career goals, and ensure that your educational needs are being met. Also, your adviser may serve as a contact point for introducing you and your family to Rochester, Minnesota, and the Mayo Clinic system.

Extended faculty

In addition to our core faculty, we draw from the expertise of additional board-certified hospice and palliative medicine faculty who come from several different departments and divisions, including:

  • Internal medicine
  • Oncology
  • Family medicine
  • Physical medicine and rehabilitation
  • Anesthesiology and pain medicine
  • Psychiatry and psychology
Academics ▸ Residencies and Fellowships ▸ Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship (Minnesota) ▸ Meet The Faculty
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