​Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship Program at The Christ Hospital

The Christ Hospital Hospice and Palliative Medicine Program - the first of its kind in the Cincinnati region - began in 2010 and accepted the first fellow in 2012. The program prepares fellows to provide evidence-based interdisciplinary palliative care to a full spectrum of patients with advanced illness.  


The Christ Hospital has earned The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval® for Advanced Certification for Palliative Care, a symbol of quality that recognizes organizations that demonstrate exceptional patient and family-centered care in order to optimize the quality of life for patients with serious illnesses. The Christ Hospital Palliative Care Service is the first program to earn this distinction in the Greater Cincinnati region.  The Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship carries full ACGME accreditation, and works directly with the highly respected interdisciplinary palliative care service at The Christ Hospital.  


The palliative medicine fellow develops expertise in assessing and managing the physical, psychological, and spiritual suffering faced by patients with life-limiting illness. Fellows are exposed to a broad array of care settings, including acute care consultation at The Christ Hospital, outpatient palliative care based in the Cancer Center at The Christ Hospital, hospice care based both at home and in nursing facilities, and long-term care. The longitudinal core curriculum offers a variety of palliative care didactics and education, intensive communication skills training (GeriTalk), and opportunities for research and academic presentations.


The fellowship is one year in duration.  ​

Curriculum:

  • Hospice: 10 weeks
  • Elective 8 weeks: (ethics, geriatrics, pain management, pediatric palliative care, HIV/Infectious Disease, oncology, radiation oncology, pulmonology, cardiology)
  • TCH palliative care service (inpatient and outpatient): 29 weeks
  • Journal club
  • Wednesday Morning Didactics (with Pediatric HPM fellows from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital)
  • One week American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine Conference

​Additional information

Palliative care 

Graduate Medical Education

Program Director