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. Michael Huber, MD MS HEC-C 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?
So many mentors and leaders have influenced my work and guided my own journey as a leader. Among this village I would recognize Stacie Levine as an exemplary model of leadership as a clinician and educator who has helped guide me and Steven Pantilat as a senior leader in the field who has helped me to grow individually and as the leader of a palliative care team.
What is the significance to you of being recognized as a “Emerging Leader” in Hospice and Palliative Medicine?
Being recognized as an “Emerging Leader” in Hospice and Palliative Medicine validates my deliberate work to develop leadership skills and the work of the teams that support me. It is also a milestone in my goal to become one of a younger generation of leaders to help develop this still relatively young field.
What is your aspiration for the evolution of hospice and Palliative Medicine?
I hope to stand on the shoulders of the giants that came before me and established Hospice and Palliative Medicine as an accepted and necessary specialty to improve the lives of patients with serious illness. I hope to help lead the next efforts, to standardize and improve the field by increasing access and defining the scope and outcomes of high-quality palliative care.
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.