AAHPM reached out to the 2024 Emerging Leaders to gain insight into what motivated them to pursue leadership positions and what they find more fulfilling in their experiences. April Zehm, MD FAAHPM has been recognized as one of the exceptional individuals chosen as a 2024 AAHPM Emerging Leader in Hospice and Palliative Care.
Who has most influenced your work and how have they shaped your contributions?
My HPM fellowship and early career mentors (Drs. Jane deLima Thomas, Juliet Jacobsen, and Vicki Jackson) were instrumental in nurturing my love of palliative medicine as I first started my career. They cultivated my communication, education, and leadership skills and really helped shape the palliative care clinician I am today. Presently, my “friendtors” (peer mentors) Drs. Andrew Lawton, Bethany-Rose Daubman, Leah Rosenberg, and Sudha Natarajan are critical to my current success, resilience…and sanity. They listen, support, encourage, and motivate me to be the most authentic version of myself–both at home and at work.
What is the significance to you of being recognized as a “Emerging Leader” in Hospice and Palliative Medicine?
I am honored and humbled to receive this distinction. For me, it serves as a charge to continue (and perhaps intensify) years of hard work and effort in training the next generation of healthcare providers to deliver high-quality, compassionate serious illness care.
What is your aspiration for the evolution of hospice and Palliative Medicine?
My aspirations for the field include improving the confidence, competence, and capacity of all clinicians in the tenets of palliative care even if they are not specialty trained expanding access to palliative care for all patients and families facing serious illness.
Learn more about the AAHPM 2024 Emerging Leaders in Hospice and Palliative Care and view a full list of all current and past Emerging Leaders.