Susan Block, MD*

Susan Block, MD*

Susan Block is a Senior Consultant to the Serious Illness Care Program at Ariadne Labs, a joint center for health care innovation at Brigham & Women’s Hospital and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Professor of Psychiatry and Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She founded the program in 2011, and served as its Director until 2017. In addition, She was the Founding Chair of the Department of Psychosocial Oncology and Palliative Care at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham & Women’s Hospital, and Founding Co-Director of the Harvard Medical School Center for Palliative Care, a program she and her husband, Andy Billings led for 17 years. Dr. Block received her AB from Stanford University, her MD from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, and completed residencies in both internal medicine and psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. She is board-certified in both fields. Dr. Block has been a national leader in the development of the field of palliative medicine, has led major innovative educational and quality improvement projects in a variety of areas, is known internationally as an expert in medical education, faculty development, and health system change, and has contributed to research in medical education, palliative care, psychooncology, and health system change. She is the author of over 200 publications and has won numerous awards for education, research and leadership.