Pain and Palliative Care: More Than Just End-of-Life Care Dr. Ann Berger Chief, Pain and Palliative Care Service Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2001 • 7 pm Masur Auditorium • NIH Clinical Center

When Dr. Ann Berger accepted the position of Chief of the Pain and Palliative Care Service at NIH in August 2000, she looked forward to the opportunity to make an impact on palliative care in a national forum. She began by initiating the NIH Pain and Palliative Care Service, the third such service that she has initiated, but the first at a national hospital.

Dr. Berger received a B.S. in nursing from New York University and an M.S.N. in oncology nursing from University of Pennsylvania. She worked for several years as an oncology clinical nurse specialist, then returned to school to obtain an M.D. degree from Medical College of Ohio in Toledo. After an internship and residency at Hartford Hospital in Connecticut, she completed a fellowship in medical oncology and pain and palliative care at Yale University. At Yale, she then initiated a palliative care service and achieved the rank of Assistant Professor in Medicine and Anesthesiology.

From 1996 to July 2000, Dr. Berger was Assistant Professor in Medicine and Anesthesiology at Cooper Hospital/University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Camden. There she also served as Director of Supportive Care Services, having again started a palliative care service. She was actively involved in the care of patients as well as in education and research: she initiated a palliative care course for medical students, residents, and fellows, and chaired the ethics committee. In addition, Dr. Berger served as Medical Director of Lighthouse Hospice and received two grants to direct a pain and palliative care scholars program and to develop pain/palliative care teams in long-term-care facilities.

Dr. Berger is a member and former chair of the Continuing Medical Education Committee for the Academy of Hospice and Palliative Care and a member of the Multi-National Society for Supportive Care in Cancer and the American Society of Clinical Oncologists.

In 1998 and 1999, Dr. Berger received the Hospice Medical Director award from the New Jersey Hospice and Palliative Care Organization. She has lectured and published extensively in pain and palliative care. She also is Senior Editor of the major textbook in palliative care, Principles and Practice of Supportive Oncology, published by Lippincott-Raven in 1998.

Medicine for the Public home