University at Buffalo (UB)
Published July 20, 2010 This content is archived.
Robert Milch, MD ’68, clinical professor of surgery and former medical director of The Center for Hospice & Palliative Care, is one of four physicians who have been named recipients of the first Hastings Center Cunniff-Dixon Physician Awards.
The awards were given by the Cunniff-Dixon Foundation, whose mission is to enrich the doctor-patient relationship at the end of life, in partnership with The Hastings Center, a bioethics research institute known for its pioneering work on end-of-life decision-making. The nomination and selection process was administered by the Duke Institute on Care at the End of Life.
The awardees were drawn from a national group of nominees, and the awards were made in two categories: an established physician category for leadership in end-of-life care and an early-career physician category for serious commitment to the field and contribution through practical research or clinical work.
Milch, who received the established physician award of $50,000, has been involved with hospice and palliative care for more than 30 years, most of it at Hospice Buffalo, where he initially served as a volunteer medical director.
As a surgeon, he has been 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.