Robert A. Milch, MD ’68

Robert A. Milch, MD ’68, FACS, is an internationally recognized leader in palliative care.

Milch received his undergraduate and medical degree from UB and completed his internship and residency in general surgery at Buffalo General Hospital (BGH). He then served for two years as a surgeon at the United States Naval Hospital in Quantico, VA.

In 1975, Milch began private practice as general, oncologic and vascular surgery with the Buffalo Medical Group.

In 1978, he became the first medical director of Hospice Buffalo, a volunteer position he held until 1984. In 1980, he was named director of the Palliative Care Unit at BGH, and in 1997 became the director of the Palliative Care Consultation Service of the Kaleida Health System. In 1993, he left private practice to become the medical director of the Center for Hospice and Palliative Care in Buffalo, and in 1975 he joined UB’s faculty.

Milch has published and presented internationally on pain and symptom management, medical communication, ethics and palliative care.

A Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, he serves on the Palliative Care Consensus Guidelines Panel of the National Cancer Centers Network (NCCN), represents the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine on the Commission on Cancer, and was a founding officer of the New York State Cancer and AIDS Pain Initiative.

He is co-chair of the Surgical Palliative Care Workgroup of the American College of Surgeons and serves on the Board of Directors of the Kaleida Health System.

He is on the editorial boards of The American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care, and the End-of-Life Physician Education Resource Center (EPERC).

Milch has received numerous awards, including: the Chandra Outstanding Clinical Teacher Award from the Department of Surgery (1989 and 1991), the Lifetime Achievement Award from Children’s Hospice International (1995), the Robert S. Berkson Memorial Award for volunteer faculty excellence in teaching (1997), the Western New York Citizen of the Year citation from The Buffalo News (1994 and 2000), and the Community Service Medal of the State University at Buffalo (2003).

In addition, he has served as a consultant to the government of Hungary and national hospices of Croatia and Slovenia as they began their national hospice programs.