2026 – 2027 Hospice & Palliative Medicine Fellows

ADULT PALLIATIVE MEDICINE TRACKSylvia Lane, MD

Dr. Sylvia Lane grew up in New England, was raised in Massachusetts and completed her education in Vermont. She completed her undergraduate degree in Biology and Psychology at the University of Vermont (UVM). After which she joined the Department of Psychology, working in drug and tobacco research. As she transitioned into more clinical research, she joined the UVM Cancer Center working on clinical research studies designed for breast and head and neck cancer patients. She attended University of Vermont for her medical degree, before completing her training in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of Maryland. During residency, she solidified her interest in complex medical care, impacts of social determinants of health in clinical setting, and improving access to equitable and family-centered care across the age spectrum. During fellowship training, she looks forward to opportunities to ease the fears and hesitations that accompany patients when faced with sickness, aging, and even death, and offer solace, even when she cannot offer a solution. In her spare time, she loves to try new restaurants, dance, hike, bake, and take care of her ever-growing plant collection.

ADULT PALLIATIVE MEDICINE TRACKRebecca McDonald, DO

Dr. Rebecca McDonald was born in Albany, New York and mainly grew up in College Station, Texas. She went to undergrad at Austin College in Sherman, Texas (go Roos!). She completed medical school at University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth and her Internal Medicine-Pediatrics residency at Albany Medical Center in Albany (talk about full circle!). In her application materials, she shared that her journey toward palliative care began long before residency. Her mother worked as the community liaison for the local not-for-profit hospice, and from a young age, she was invited into open conversations about death and the challenges and gifts of hospice work. Her goal is a career in combined adult and pediatric palliative care, grounded in advocacy, interdisciplinary communication, and relationship-centered care. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, reading, watching movies and improving her metabolic fitness.

ADULT PALLIATIVE MEDICINE TRACKJacob Pickle, MD, MBA

Dr. Jacob Pickle is from Allentown, Pennsylvania, where most of his family still resides. He went to Villanova University for undergrad (where he met his wife Sarah) and Temple University for medical school. He moved to Pittsburgh for his combined pediatrics-anesthesiology residency (and to be a little closer to Sarah's family in Chicago) and just moved to the Highlandtown neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland last summer for his pediatric anesthesia fellowship at Johns Hopkins University and Sarah's job at the CDC. His family now includes daughter Sylvie, who was born in February, and a dog named Beam, who they adopted while living in Pittsburgh. With fellowship training, he aspires to become a physician who walks alongside pediatric patients and families through every step of their journey, ensuring that their voices are heard, their values honored, and their children cared for in every meaningful way possible. His free time is usually spent walking the pup in Patterson Park, working on the newest hobby of baking, or playing and watching sports (all the Philadelphia teams and Manchester United, weekend soccer and basketball leagues, and golf whenever the opportunity arises).

ADULT PALLIATIVE MEDICINE TRACKMiriam Quinlan, MD, MS, MPH

Dr. Miriam Quinlan is originally from sunny Southern California, where her love of medicine and the brain first took root. She completed her undergraduate studies at UC San Diego with degrees in Physiology & Neuroscience and Linguistics, which sparked a lifelong fascination with how humans communicate and how illness can transform that experience. After earning her master’s degree in Public Health at Dartmouth, where her thesis focused on healthcare barriers for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community, she went on to complete medical school and then neurology residency at Albany Medical Center, alongside a master’s degree in Bioethics. She then completed a Neurocritical Care Fellowship at Johns Hopkins University, where she served as the Clinical Fellows Council President and on the ethics committee as well. Throughout her training, she’s been drawn to the human side of medicine: the conversations, the values, and the moments that matter most to patients and families, which is what brought her to the Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship program. Outside of medicine, she is a foodie, loves hugs, and speak several languages, which has always helped her connect with patients in a deeper way.