Care for patients at the end of life has long troubled American medicine, not only in its failure to provide good palliative care, but also in the relationship between doctors and patients. Many efforts to remedy this situation have emerged: a growing and strengthening palliative care movement, better understanding of the situation of patients at the end of life, a sharper focus on the values and behavior of physicians in their care of the dying, and a more general effort to gain medical recognition that end-of-life care is just as important as care during all other phases of life. Great progress has been made, but there is still a distance to go. As the number and percentage of people who die from chronic and degenerative diseases increase, the physician skills and virtues necessary to provide good end-of-life care also increase.
The aim of The Hastings Center Cunniff-Dixon Physician Awards is to foster those skills and virtues by providing financial prizes to those physicians, young and old, who have shown their care of patients to be exemplary, a model of good medicine for other physicians, and a great benefit in advancing the centrality of end-of-life care as a basic part of the doctor-patient relationship.
This year there are five prizes totaling $95,000; one prize of $25,000 for a senior physician; one prize of $25,000 for a mid-career physician and three prizes of $15,00 for early-career physicians.
Nominations
Nominations will be accepted through September 30, 2010.
Download the nomination form and instructions (doc)
Video Overview
The Hastings Center Cunniff-Dixon Physician Awards 2010
Past Awards
Established Physician Award
Early-Career Physician Awards
Robert A. Milch, MD, FACS
The 2010 Hastings Center Cunniff-Dixon Physician Awards in the established physician category honor Robert A. Milch, MD, FACS, a physician at The Center for Hospice and Palliative Care, near Buffalo. Dr. Milch, a surgeon, has been a leader in hospice and palliative care for more than 30 years, almost since its inception in the United States. He was recognized for his longstanding commitment to and excellence in clinical care for patients with advanced illness and for his regional and national leadership in palliative care and surgery.
Dr. Milch’s work in hospice care began in 1977, when he came to Hospice Buffalo as the medical director on a voluntary basis, even while working in a large surgical practice. He helped to shape the organization, as well as develop the field of hospice care overall. Dr. Milch was a founding member of the National Association of Hospice Physicians and served as president from 1981 to 1982. He was director of the Palliative Care Service at Buffalo General Hospital from 1980 to 1994. In 1993 he left his surgical practice to become the full-time medical director of Hospice Buffalo, which is now part of The Center for Hospice and Palliative Care.
Colleagues cited Dr. Milch’s humility and integrity, as well as his openness and accessibility. “Dr. Milch is often described as a brilliant physician,” wrote William Finn, president and CEO of The Center for Hospice and Palliative Care, in his nomination. “He is also a master of the art of medicine, seeking to heal the patient as well as addressing the disease.” Finn quoted a nurse as saying, “`You could count on Dr. Milch to come to a home in the middle of the night if he was needed by the patient, family or hospice staff. He would stop at a patient's home because an out-of-town family member came for a visit and they wanted to meet him or because a patient just needed reassurance…. He was at the bedside of any dying hospice patient that needed him.’”
After retiring as medical director of Hospice Buffalo in 2007, Dr. Milch stayed on as a physician, working with nurses, social workers, clergy and others in the care of patients.
Dr. Milch received his medical degree from the University of Buffalo in 1968.
A conversation with Dr. Milch
Elisabeth Potts Dellon, MD, MPH
The 2010 Hastings Center Cunniff-Dixon Physician Awards in the early-career physician category honor Elisabeth Potts Dellon, MD, MPH, an assistant professor of pediatrics, Division of Pulmonology, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Dellon was selected for her unique set of clinical skills in caring for children and young adults with advanced chronic lung disease. She is one of the few pediatric pulmonologists in the Southeastern United States caring for children undergoing lung transplantation.
During her fellowship training at the University of North Carolina, Dr. Dellon started a research program on decision-making involving children with end-stage cystic fibrosis. The project seeks to determine the key unmet needs of patients and families as they make critical decisions about lung transplantation, end-of-life treatments, and other care. She was invited to moderate a session on end-of-life care at the 2009 American Thoracic Society meetings, and is emerging as a national leader in this area.
In her clinical work, Dr. Dellon has developed an expertise in patient- and family-centered approaches to end-stage care with a complex patient population that has rarely had these crucial issues adequately addressed by physicians. She is currently working to develop novel end-of-life decision aid tools for use by physicians and patients
“As a practicing pulmonologist for more than 20 years, and a former training program director, I can attest that our field is in great need of role models and leaders in late-disease care and decision-making,” wrote her nominator, Terry L. Noah, MD, a professor at the University of North Carolina. “Dr. Dellon is one of the only physicians I have ever met with all of the academic and personal tools to serve this role.”
Dr. Dellon received an MD from University of Minnesota in 1999 and an MPH from the University of North Carolina in 2007.
Jeffrey N. Stoneberg, DO
The 2010 Hastings Center Cunniff-Dixon Physician Awards in the early-career physician category honor Jeffrey N. Stoneberg, DO, medical director of the San Diego Hospice and The Institute for Palliative Medicine. He was recognized for his outstanding clinical skills and his achievements in growing the Scripps Mercy Palliative Care Consultation Service, a local community health care system.
Dr. Stoneberg was one of the first physicians in the U.S. to seek fellowship training in palliative medicine. Today, he is responsible for the medical care of home and in-patient hospice patients, and for educating clinicians and other health care workers on care of terminally ill patients including pain and symptom management.
In 2008, Scripps Mercy asked the San Diego Hospice to take over and develop the palliative medicine consultation service, and Dr. Stoneberg became its clinical medical director. In that role he has significantly increased the pace of understanding, acceptance, and utilization of the palliative medicine service. He has started new services that have won over clinicians not traditionally involved with palliative care, such as trauma physicians.
“Dedication, excellence in patient care, and role model as teacher – those words describe Dr. Stoneberg well,” wrote his nominator, Laurel Herbst, MD, chief medical officer and vice president of San Diego Hospice and The Institute for Palliative Medicine. “Jeff’s level of professionalism and compassion make him a favorite with staff at Mercy, and even though [he is a member of the] junior faculty, he has generated wide respect for his teaching and clinical skills by even the most senior physicians in the hospital.”
Dr. Stoneberg is a 2001 graduate of the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Eytan Szmuilowicz, MD
The 2010 Hastings Center Cunniff-Dixon Physician Awards in the early-career physician category honor Eytan Szmuilowicz, MD, an instructor in the Division of Hospital Medicine at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. He was selected for his devotion to and excellence in patient care, as well as his strong commitment to teaching and research on improving clinical training in end-of-life care.
Dr. Szmuilowicz teaches palliative care at the Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. He has developed palliative care curricula for hospitalists and medical students, including skills for talking with patients at the end of their lives. At Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Dr. Szmuilowicz has spearheaded efforts to establish a robust palliative care program, using a teamwork approach with a nurse practitioner, social worker, chaplain, and pharmacist to the best care possible.
“He is a humane, compassionate, expert, and committed palliative care physician who performs superbly at the bedside, in the classroom and with colleagues,” wrote Susan Brock, MD, co-director of the Center for Palliative Care at Harvard Medical School and a former mentor, in a letter of support for Dr. Szmuilowicz’s nomination. “He is an extraordinary role model, inspires others through his actions, and has a gift for and seriousness about the teaching enterprise that are rare and precious.”
Dr. Szmuilowicz is a 2001 graduate of Harvard Medical School.