Key Concepts in Pediatric Palliative Care Integration of QoL/PPC Improves Outcomes
December 10th, 2024
Justin Baker, MD
As a Palliative Care physician leader and visionary (AAHPM awards); Pediatric Oncologist; and Phase I and Palliative and End– of– Life Care Clinical Investigator, Dr Baker is intimately aware of the distress experienced by children with advanced illnesses and the ethical and end–of–life/bereavement issues surrounding their disease progression. He currently serves as the Inaugural Chief of the Division of Quality of Life and Pediatric Palliative Care here at Stanford, as well as the Director of the Quality of Life for All (QoLA) Program. Additionally, he serves as the Associate Chief Quality Officer for Patient Experience and Holistic Care. In his past career at St Jude Children’s Research Center, he started the St Jude palliative care program and created two home-based pediatric palliative care teams. He also served as the director of the large Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Program for more than a decade.
His research expertise is in the study of innovative models of palliative care, grief and bereavement, patient-reported outcomes, and pain and symptom control. He has received significant extramural funding for his research and has participated in >100 studies related to pediatric palliative care. He is also deeply committed to training up the next generation and to mentorship. He has mentored/co-mentored more than 60 post-docs, fellows, and junior faculty members. He has authored >300 academic works on palliative care subjects and has been cited ~10,000 times with an h-index of >50 (Google Scholar 7/2024).
He has received many awards for his work including the prestigious Hastings Center Cunniff-Dixon Award. He was also named an American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM) Inspirational Leader in Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Most recently Dr Baker was named an AAHPM Visionary in Hospice and Palliative Medicine.
