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. Keri O. Brenner, MD MPA 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?
I served in Mother Teresa’s Home for the Dying in Kolkata, India on various occasions (2002-2006) which inspired my eventual path toward palliative care. Mother Teresa’s sisters provided an expansive understanding of the multiple dimensions of suffering–such as the immaterial poverty of loneliness, demoralization, and existential distress. Additional thought leaders including Viktor Frankl, Irvin Yalom and Eric Cassell offered structure and language to these ineffable realities. I also have been blessed with phenomenal mentors, such as Vicki Jackson and Stephanie Harman, who graciously illuminate the connections between patient care and psychologically informed ideas.
What is the significance to you of being recognized as a “Emerging Leader” in Hospice and Palliative Medicine?
This honor is a testament to the growing recognition of the value of psychiatric and psychological elements in providing exceptional care for patients with serious illness. My hope is that the work of the PalliPsych collaborative which I lead with several of my colleagues will continue garnering broad support within HPM, optimizing care for our patients and their families. The profound honor of this award serves as an ongoing catalyst for PalliPsych educational, clinical, and scholarly pursuits advancing these skills and ideas for our field.
What is your aspiration for the evolution of hospice and Palliative Medicine?
The recent decades of successful deployment of hospice & palliative care nationwide now calls for primary psychiatric and psychoeducation skills training for our field. Up to 80% of patients experience some degree of psychological distress amidst serious illness; simultaneously, over 80% of HPM prescribing clinicians report having little or no training in mental health. PalliPsych initiatives close this gap by integrating high yield, accessible psychological and psychiatric knowledge, and skills for everyday HPM practice. I am inspired to endow palliative care with primary psychiatric and psychotherapeutic skills, and bear witness to how incremental skill development can cascade transformative ripple effects for our patients, families, clinician wellbeing, team dynamics and healing the healthcare system at-large.
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.