Palliative Medicine Fellowship Director to Chair Education Group

“Everyone in the group is interested in learning about ways to deliver the most effective palliative medicine training,” she says.

Case, associate professor of medicine and director of the Department of Medicine’s hospice and palliative medicine fellowship program, will begin chairing the group in 2016. She is currently serving as vice chair, and she spent the past year shadowing the current leaders.

Case’s duties include moderating national conference sessions and reviewing members’ abstracts for annual meetings.  

Group members share knowledge about best practices and novel techniques for palliative medicine training.

“At this year’s meeting, one of the groups I moderated was an educational exchange. It was a unique, interactive forum where we discussed innovative teaching tools,” she explains. 

“We talked about using technology — such as websites and smartphone apps — to enhance training for fellows, residents and medical students.”

Case plans to use some of these innovative tools while mentoring fellows. 

Serving on a selection committee for abstracts gives Case further exposure to fresh teaching approaches. She gains insight into other physicians’ training methods and techniques, and she provides them with feedback.

“I can incorporate these ideas into my own teaching, which I hope will help our fellows,” she says.

Case encourages fellows to become AAHPM members and attend the academy’s annual meeting.

“This year — as in past years — our fellows got a lot out of the conference,” she says. “It familiarized them with new information, and they learned about current issues affecting the field.”

“We make sure we support our fellows,” she adds. “The Department of Medicine pays for their academy memberships and provides them with funding to help them attend the meetings.”

“The conferences are an important accompaniment to everything they learn in our program,” says Case.

“Our fellows get a thorough experience,” she notes.

In addition to palliative medicine, they are exposed to geriatrics lectures. They participate in interdisciplinary didactics and rotations as well as a unique standardized patient experience, she says.

“I strive to publish with each fellow every year,” she adds.

Leading the education group will allow Case to establish relationships with clinicians and scholars from different backgrounds who offer unique perspectives on hospice and palliative medicine education. 

“I’m able to network with people across the country,” she says. ”I’m collaborating with national leaders in the field. I’m exchanging ideas with the chairs of other special interest groups, too.”

Case also is a member of the academy’s advanced lung disease forum along with groups for fellowship directors and veterans affairs physicians.

Case, a faculty member in the Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, directs palliative medicine for the VA Western New York Healthcare System (VAWNYHS). She is a member of the geriatrics and extended care section within the VAWNYHS.