Hospice and Palliative Medicine Education
Medical Education

The Johns Hopkins Hospice and Palliative Medicine (HPM) Fellowship Training Program received initial accreditation from the ACGME in 2012 and continued accreditation in 2015 and 2023. The goal of our program is to train specialist palliative medicine physicians who excel as clinicians, teachers, team members, and leaders.
We also hold the goal of developing lifelong learners and catalysts for improving the quality of hospice and palliative medicine across the lifespan and within health systems.
Program Overview
The HPM fellowship program is a 12-month clinical fellowship. The program has two tracks: Adult and Pediatric. The program includes rotations at different facilities, providing a multitude of clinical settings, patient demographics and acuity. Each site has a dedicated HPM Fellowship site director to guide and mentor the fellow through their rotation. Physician faculty members are all specialists in HPM and provide clinical supervision and teaching as attending physicians for each of the clinical rotations. Fellows work as members of strong interdisciplinary teams in all settings. All fellows come together for a weekly seminar, promoting peer and team learning from a diversity of training backgrounds. All fellows participate in a scholarly project, which may include research, quality improvement, etc. Mentorship is provided to all fellows for these scholarly projects.
- 12-month clinical fellowship
- Variety of settings, patient demographics and acuity
- Each site has a dedicated HPM site director
- Physician faculty members are all specialists in HPM
- Fellows work as members of strong interdisciplinary teams
- Adult and Pediatric Fellows rotate at similar locations
PALLIATIVE PERSPECTIVEExplore the Fellowship Experience
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Weekly Professional Development series and Fellow Didactics (Tuesday afternoons)
Our program includes educational opportunities in order to more fully espouse the educational mission of JHUSOM. This professional development series will take place on Tuesday afternoons. Didactics are taught by various disciplines to truly promote team-based learning. The following are examples of special educational sessions.
- Section of Palliative Medicine Grand Rounds
- Section of Palliative Medicine Journal Club
- Fellows’ Debrief
- Fellow Case Presentations
- Annual PalliTalk Conference (Pittsburgh, PA): Three-day communication skills course
- AAHPM Annual Assembly
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- Johns Hopkins Hospital / Johns Hopkins Children’s Center
- Acute inpatient hospital consultation services
- Outpatient clinics
- Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center
- Acute inpatient hospital consultation services
- Outpatient clinics
- Gilchrist: Acute inpatient hospice unit and home hospice visits for both peds and adult track fellows
- Gilchrist Center Towson – acute inpatient hospice unit
- Gilchrist Home Hospice Team
- Gilchrist Kids – home hospice + inpatient unit at Gilchrist Center Baltimore
- Palliative consults in long-term care and subacute rehab setting
- Mount Washington Pediatric Hospital: Pediatric rehabilitation hospital
- Kennedy Krieger Institute: Ambulatory pediatric palliative care clinic
- Electives (some examples listed below)
- Chronic Pain
- Community Hospital Palliative Care
- Bridging Life Hospice
- Spiritual Care
- Pediatric Pain
- Research
- Johns Hopkins Hospital / Johns Hopkins Children’s Center
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Johns Hopkins Medicine Virtual Tour
Our program is deeply committed to ensuring our fellows learn in a supportive atmosphere that provides exceptional education, mentoring and focuses on wellness. As a HPM fellow at Hopkins, you will be mentored by a dedicated faculty with extraordinary expertise and a unique approach to patient-centered care and research in a rich and interdisciplinary program. Our graduates assume leadership positions with great success in academic, research and private settings.
We have a robust wellness program and counseling resources, in addition to Mindfulness Sessions that are an excellent resource to manage stress and anxiety. All fellows have the opportunity to participate in debriefing sessions.
- Johns Hopkins Medicine Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Health Equity: The mission is to cultivate all perspectives, comprehend each patient, collaborate with our community and create health equity.
- Task Force on Women's Academic Careers in Medicine: The mission of the task force is to promote a culture that ensures the advancement and success of all faculty and fellows by identifying and addressing gender inequity.
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A unique combination of the old and the new, Baltimore is a national showcase for urban renewal and ethnic tradition. The city’s most popular attraction is the Inner Harbor, which includes enclosed food and shopping pavilions, the National Aquarium, the Maryland Science Center, and the acclaimed Oriole Park Baseball Stadium at Camden Yards, as well as the Baltimore Ravens football stadium. Yet, to the native Baltimorean, it is the city’s ethnic neighborhoods and restaurants, row houses with marble steps, and Chesapeake Bay crabs that best describe Baltimore.
Learn more about what Baltimore has to offer here.
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The program has a very flexible vacation policy of four weeks which aims to accommodate those who need to sit for National Board exams. Fellows can use their vacation in one- or two-week blocks, but unused vacation time does not carry over to a subsequent academic year, nor are unused days paid out. Funding is also available for fellows to attend conferences. GME covers comprehensive medical insurance for all house staff and dependents.
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Applications are only accepted through ERAS
The Johns Hopkins Hospital
Hospice and Palliative Medicine Program
600 N. Wolfe Street, Blalock 359
Baltimore, MD 21287Program Director: Corey X. Tapper, MD, MS
Associate Program Director: Danielle J. Doberman, MD, MPH, HMDC, FAAHPM
Medical Training Program Administrator: Julie Kurtz
Phone: 410-955-0951
Fax: 410-955-2098
Undergraduate Medical Education
TIME Course
This clinical four-day course is offered twice a year to ensure that every student has the opportunity to complete it before graduation. Students must have completed at least one core clerkship before taking this course in the eighth week of a core clerkship block. The interdisciplinary faculty use a variety of teaching methods including lectures, assigned reading, team-based learning, small group interactions and use of standardized patients. Invited speakers from the community will also participate. HPM fellows serve as teaching assistants and serve as preceptors to simulated patient encounters.
For more information, click here.
3rd - 4th Year Clinical Elective
The elective will provide an introduction to Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Over 90% of hospitals now have Palliative Care programs based on the randomized clinical trial evidence that shows better quality of life, better quality of care, lower cost and even improved survival compared to usual care. Research opportunities in clinical symptom control (dyspnea, pain, neuropathic pain) and quality improvement (measuring and improving care in the hospital) may be arranged upon request. The curriculum will emphasize the evidence base behind Palliative Care. Clinical experiences include rotation of the inpatient palliative medicine consult team at JHH.
Course Type: Clinical Research
Course Director: Danielle J. Doberman, MD, MPH, HMDC, FAAHPM
Availability/Duration: 2 weeks
Drop Period: 1 month
Contact Us
Julie Kurtz
Medical Training Program Administrator, General Internal Medicine
[email protected]
(410) 955-0951