Meet the President

Meet AAHPM President Nathan E. Goldstein, MD FAAHPM

What led you to the specialty of hospice and palliative medicine?

Having attended Mount Sinai for both medical school and my internal medicine residency, I was exposed to palliative care from the earliest days of my training. Throughout my medical education, I was continually drawn to clinical situations and electives that led me along the path of hospice and palliative care. I always seemed to choose rotations that aligned with holistic, patient-centered care, especially those like home hospice. These experiences—as well as my rotations with the palliative care service—represented times where I felt truly happy and fulfilled. I was encouraged and rewarded for getting to know patients and their families in a fundamental way—which is why I went into health care in the first place. As an intern, I once had a family member of a patient ask me what I was going to do in my career. I shared that I was just starting and didn't yet know. Her reply was immediate: "You should do palliative care." As it turns out, she was right.