E68 Melissa Red Hoffman On Writing And Surgical Palliative Care

Dr. Melissa “Red” Hoffman is one of only 80 dual-boarded trauma surgeons and palliative care physicians in the US. She joined us on this episode to talk about surgical palliative care and how surgeons can potentially do this better. We also ask her about her life journey informs the work that she does today, including her outstanding writing. 

Links:

1. Dr. Melissa Red Hoffman: https://redhoffmanmd.com/
2. The Sound of Silence – When there are no Words. JAMA. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2737686
3. Surgical Palliative Care podcast: https://redhoffmanmd.com/podcast/ 
4. Being Mortal by Atul Gawande: http://atulgawande.com/book/being-mortal/
5. The impact of country and culture on end-of-life care for injured patients: results from an international survey. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21045742/

Bio (From Dr. Hoffman’s website):

When she was 19 years old, Dr. Red’s father was tragically killed in Cairo, Egypt. Her father’s violent death, and the experiences which followed, inspired her to pursue a career in both trauma surgery and hospice and palliative medicine. She now utilizes both her integrative medicine training as well as her training in palliative medicine to provide whole-person care to her surgical patients and their families.

As one of just 80 surgeons in the United States who is board-certified in hospice and palliative medicine, Dr. Red is a leader in the field of surgical palliative care.

She writes and speaks extensively on how to integrate palliative medicine into the care of all surgical and trauma patients. She has an active online presence, has a bi-monthly column in General Surgery News entitled The Surgical Pause and is the creator and host of The Surgical Palliative Care Podcast.

In her free time, Dr. Red enjoys writing, reading, taking long walks, eating gorgeous food and drinking yummy drinks, and spending time with her orange cat Sammy and her boyfriend Brandon.