Dwaipayan Banerjee, PhD

Associate Professor, Program in Science and Technology

MIT

Dwaipayan Banerjee is an Associate Professor of Science, Technology, and Society (STS) at MIT. He earned his doctorate in cultural anthropology at NYU and has been a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at Dartmouth College. Professor Banerjee’s recent book, Enduring Cancer: Life, Death and Diagnosis in Delhi (Duke University Press, 2020), is an ethnography of cancer in India. Enduring Cancer presents the efforts of the urban poor in Delhi to carve out a livable life with cancer, as they negotiate an over-extended health system struggling to respond to the disease.

Dr. Carrie Bourassa

B.A., M.A., PhD

Dr. Carrie Bourassa is the Scientific Director of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research – Institute of Indigenous Peoples’ Health (CIHR-IIPH) and a Professor, Community Health & Epidemiology, University of Saskatchewan.  She is the Principal Investigator for the Canada Foundation for Innovation funded Morning Star Lodge as well as the Cultural Safety, Evaluation, Training and Research lab.  Dr. Bourassa has nearly 20 years’ experience as a professor in the field of Indigenous health studies. Through her role as Scientific Director of IIPH, she leads the advancement of a national health research agenda to improve and promote the health of First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples in Canada.

Charlotte Chamberlain

Since 2016, Charlotte Chamberlain has been a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Academic Clinical Lecturer (ACL) in palliative medicine. She works at the University of Bristol, St Peter’s Hospice and a tertiary cancer referral hospital, University Hospitals Bristol and Weston, in the largest city in the South West of England. Charlotte qualified in Medicine and Surgery (MBBS) in 2004 (Royal Free and University College London Medical School (UCL)), intercalated a BSc in International Health (UCL), an MSc in Epidemiology (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) and qualified as a Public Health Consultant in 2016. During her public health training she undertook an NIHR funded doctoral fellowship on access to non-curative anti-cancer therapies on the NHS (PhD 2015). Since 2016 Charlotte has investigated grief, the role of palliative care in surgery and been involved in the Lancet Commission on the Value of Death.

Jim Cleary

MD

Professor of Medicine Director and Walther Senior Chair of Supportive Oncology Dept of Medicine & IU Simon Cancer Center, IU School of Medicine Director, Walther Center in Global Palliative Care and Supportive Oncology

David Collingridge

Dr David Collingridge has been Editor-in-Chief of The Lancet Oncology since March 2002 and is also the Publishing Director for The Lancet’s specialty journals. Prior to his appointments at The Lancet, he gained a PhD in Tumour Biology from University College London, UK, and held research posts in the Department of Therapeutic Radiology, Yale University, CT, USA, and in the PET Oncology Group, Imperial College School of Medicine, London, UK. Dr Collingridge has won awards for projects focused on cancer control in low-to-middle income countries; has published numerous peer-review articles, editorials, opinion pieces, and news reports; has co-authored a text book on radiobiology; and was formally a Clinical Associate Professor of Radiation Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell Health, Lake Success, NY, USA. He currently holds the role of Visiting Professor of Global Oncology at King’s College London, UK.

Eric A. Finkelstein

Ph.D., M.H.A.

Professor of Health Services and Systems Research at the Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore and the Executive Director of the Lien Centre for Palliative Care.

Eric A. Finkelstein, Ph.D., M.H.A. is Professor of Health Services and Systems Research at the Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore and the Executive Director of the Lien Centre for Palliative Care. He also holds appointments at NUS School of Public Health and Duke University Global Health Institute. He received his BA in Mathematics/Economics from the University of Michigan, and a Ph.D. in economics and Masters in Health Administration from the University of Washington. Over the past two decades, Professor Finkelstein has established himself as a leading international health economist doing research in the economics of health behaviors. His research focuses on the economic causes and consequences of health behaviors, with a primary emphasis on the use of traditional and behavioral economic incentives to influence behaviors in ways to improve the public’s health. Recent research also focuses on studies to better understand the complicated decisions that revolve around end of life care. He currently teaches both graduate and executive education courses in health economics and health technology assessment. He has published over 200 manuscripts and 2 books in these areas, and successfully commercialized an Obesity Cost Calculator for employers and insurers. According to google scholar, he has an h-index of 62 and his publications have been cited more than 51,000 times, including in the landmark Supreme Court decision upholding the U.S. Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare). He has been listed as one of the World's Most Highly Cited Researchers in 2015, 2016 and 2017 by Thomson Reuters and Clarivate Analytics. He has experience as a Principal and Co-Investigator on research projects funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Singapore Ministry of Health, and many private sector organizations. His research has been showcased in the Economist, Wall Street Journal, New York Times and other television, print, and media outlets throughout the world.

Professor Richard Harding

Herbert Dunhill Chair & Director of the Centre for Global Health Palliative CareCicely Saunders Institute of Palliative Care, Policy & Rehabilitation

Richard Harding is the Herbert Dunhill Professor of Palliative Care & Rehabilitation at the Cicely Saunders Institute, Kiing's College London. He is Director of the Centre for Global Health Palliative Care, Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Palliative Care, Vice Chair of The World Hospice Palliative Care Alliance, and Trustee of Marie Curie.  He has a background in social science, public health and social work. His programme of research in sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Europe is focused on integration of palliative care for health systems strengthening, outcomes measurement and widening access. 

Stein Kaasa

MD, PhD

Professor of Palliative Medicine at University of Oslo, Norway, and Head of Department of Oncology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.

Main research interests are: Clinical research in cancer care – including oncology, palliative care and symptom management. Translational research with emphasis on bridging the gap between the clinic and basic science including molecular biology, public health, organization, computer science and decision support systems. Several years of experience in planning, conducting and analysis of prospective controlled randomised and non-randomised single- and multicentre studies. Has published extensively as well as planned, organised and taught at university-based courses in clinical trial methodology, clinical decision-making, clinical oncology, translational research, patient-reported outcomes measures (PROMS), palliative care, public health and leadership. Recently, the European Palliative Care Research Centre (PRC) was refunded by the Norwegian Cancer Society. Stein Kaasa is the chair of this research initiative aiming at improving palliative patient care, including end of life care, through research of highest quality in an international setting. Professor Kaasa has published more than 500 articles and book chapters. He has authored the Nordic Textbook of Palliative Care and is co-author of the Oxford Textbook of Palliative Medicine. Professor Kaasa advises many international journals – either as an advisory board member or as a reviewer.

Chetna Malhotra

MBBS, MD (Community Medicine), MPH

Chetna Malhotra is an Assistant Professor at Lien Centre for Palliative Care and Program in Health Services and Systems Research, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore. She is a physician specializing in Public Health and Community Medicine. Her work focuses on conducting health services research in the area of palliative and end-of-life care for patients with advanced serious illnesses including those with advanced cancer, heart failure and dementia, with the goal of improving delivery of palliative care services to these populations. Specific areas of interest include disparities in provision of end of life care, end of life decision making, advance care planning, quality of communication between patients and physicians.

Christian Ntizimira

MD, MSc

Executive Director, African Center for Research and End of Life Care (ACREOL)

Dr. Christian Ntizimira is the Founder and Executive Director of ACREOL and an International member of the Faculty of The Palliative Care Centre for Excellence in Research and Education in Singapore (PalC). He is a Fulbright Alumni and graduated from Harvard Medical School, Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, and former City Manager, Kigali, City Cancer Challenge Foundation, and the former Executive Director of the Rwanda Palliative Care and Hospice Organization (RPCHO), a non-profit organization focused in home-based care in the City of Kigali. Dr. Ntizimira pioneered the integration of palliative care and end of life care into health services rendered to Rwandan cancer patients and in the community settings. Through his program (2008-2013), more than 1500 health care providers and community health workers have learned the principles of cancer prevention control & palliative care leading to a five-fold increase in the prescription of morphine, an essential pain medication. In 2016 he has been awarded as a young cancer leader and world cancer Regional, lead in 2018 for his outstanding contributions to cancer control in Rwanda and in Africa. In 2018 he became the first advocacy/policy champion among extraordinary individuals who are making a significant contribution to developing palliative care in low- and middle-income countries for World Hospice and Palliative Care Alliance (WHPCA). From 2010–13, he was the director of Kibagabaga Hospital in Kigali. He has advised several governments on national palliative care policy, including Burundi, Rwanda, and Senegal, on access to palliative care services. He was a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee for the Lancet Commission on Global Access to Palliative Care and Pain Control. Ntizimira graduated in medicine from the College of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of Rwanda in 2008. In 2011, he received a scholarship to study palliative care education and practice in the United States of America at Harvard Medical School’s Center for Palliative Care. He also trained as an African Pain Policy Expert at the University of Wisconsin. Ntizimira was named Young Cancer Leader by the Union for International Cancer Control in 2016 and Distinguished Young Leader by the Harvard Global Health Catalyst in 2017.

Lara Pivodic

Lara Pivodic is Assistant Professor at the End-of-Life Care Research Group at Vrije Universiteit Brussel. She studies access to and quality of palliative care for older people, with a focus on cross-national comparisons.

Gary Rodin

Gary Rodin is the Joint University of Toronto/University Health Network Harold and Shirley Lederman Chair in Psychosocial Oncology.  Dr. Rodin is the Director of the Global Institute of Psychosocial, Palliative and End-of-Life Care (GIPPEC) and a Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto and Director of the University Health Network Cancer Experience Program.  He is a clinician-investigator who has published widely on the psychiatric and psychosocial aspects of cancer and other medical illnesses.   Dr. Rodin has authored texts on Depression in the Medically Ill, and on the Psychiatric Aspects of Transplantation and is currently leading research on the psychological impact of advanced and terminal disease in affected patients and their families.

Richard Sullivan

Professor Richard Sullivan is Director, Institute of Cancer Policy & Conflict and Health Research Group, in the School of Cancer & Pharmaceutical Sciences, within the Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine at King's College London.

Talito Valentino

Talita Valentino has an earned Master Degree in Health Sciences with a concentration in Oncology and Palliative Care and is currently a Ph.D. student with the Sao Paulo State Research Support Foundation and Barretos Cancer Hospital.  She works as a nurse and researcher in the Research Group on Palliative Care and Health Related Quality of Life at the Barretos Cancer Hospital, Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Camilla Zimmermann

MD, PhD

Rose Family Chair in Palliative and Supportive Care Head, Department of Supportive Care, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre Professor and Director, Division of Palliative Medicine, Dept. of Medicine, University of Toronto

Dr. Zimmermann is Professor of Medicine and holds the Rose Family Chair in Palliative Medicine and Supportive Care at the University of Toronto, where she is also Head of the Division of Palliative Medicine. At the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, she is Head of the Department of Supportive Care, which has divisions of Psychosocial Oncology, Palliative Care and Cancer Rehabilitation and Survivorship. She is also Senior Scientist and Chair of the Supportive Care research program at the Princess Margaret Cancer Research Institute. Dr. Zimmermann has published widely and is internationally known for her research on early integration of palliative care for patients with cancer. She is co-editor of the textbook Supportive Oncology, Associate Editor for BMJ Supportive and Palliative Care, and a board member of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer. Camilla Zimmermann Synopsis, Stigma about palliative care in Canada In this presentation, Dr. Zimmermann will discuss findings from several studies about stigma in palliative care in Canada. These include a large qualitative study of patients with cancer and their caregivers; two national surveys of Canadian physicians (one of oncologists and one of palliative care physicians) and a national survey of the Canadian public. Although these studies occurred in Canada they are applicable internationally and draw attention for the need for broad-based education on palliative care.