philanthropic impact
Charina Endowment Fund Supports End-of-Life Care Project
A
simple surgical checklist—a tool that has dra-
Cancer Institute, and current
matically reduced hospital deaths and complica-
funder Partners Healthcare.
tions—may soon find a new and innovative use:
After the checklist is tested
improving end-of-life care for terminally ill patients.
with several pilot popula-
Developed by HSPH’s Atul Gawande, MD, MPH ’99,
tions, including patients with
associate professor in the Department of Health Policy
end-stage cancer, congestive
and Management, the checklist will help clinicians talk
heart failure, and Alzheim-
with patients about important end-of-life issues, such as
er’s disease, the researchers
maintaining mental awareness, being with family, and
hope to pursue an approach
leading as meaningful a life as possible in the final days and weeks. A $750,000 foundation gift from Richard Menschel, director and president of the Charina Endowment Fund, supports the work. The Margaret T. Morris
Atul Gawande
that can be used in any setting, both high-income and
low-income, in the U.S. and abroad. “The gift from the Charina Endowment Fund is
Foundation contributed an additional $40,000 to the
hugely important,” says Gawande. “We’re designing the
effort.
checklist to give clinicians a simple strategy to identify
The Health System Innovation Research Group End
patients’ greatest fears and goals for the end of life. And
of Life Care Project is a collaboration between HSPH,
we are seeking evidence that it works to help people
Susan Block, chief of palliative care at Dana-Farber
avoid what they most fear—especially suffering.”
Rethinking Malaria: ExxonMobil Convenes Global Leaders
O
12
Harvard Public Health Review
Dyann Wirth, Richard Pearson Strong Professor of Infectious Diseases, and chair, Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, speaks with Marc Roberts, professor of political economy in the Departments of Health Policy and Management and Global Health and Population.
top left, Rose Lincoln/Harvard News Office; bottom left and opposite Jared Charney
nce on the brink of elimination in many parts of the developing world, malaria has come back with a vengeance following the unraveling of the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Eradication Program in 1955. Today, the WHO estimates that the infection strikes nearly 225 million people each year. In 2009, the parasitic disease killed nearly 1 million people, the vast majority of deaths occurring in Africa. In search of new ways to eliminate this threat, malaria thought leaders and experts convened at Harvard University in January for a three-day conference. The “Rethinking Malaria: A Leadership Forum” and “Rethinking Malaria: The Science of Eradication Sym-