Co-Founder and President

ACP Decisions; Faculty, Harvard Medical School

A key ingredient to informed patient-doctor discussions regarding serious illness care includes the patient’s ability to understand and imagine hypothetical disease states and medical interventions. However, studies suggest that there are numerous barriers to communication between doctors and patients. One innovation to surmount these barriers includes using video decision aids to reinforce serious illness conversations. Dr. Angelo E. Volandes leads a group of internationally recognized researchers who create and study video decision aids to empower patients and families to make informed decisions at the end of life. ( www.ACPdecisions.org ) Dr. Volandes is Associate Professor of Medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Volandes' research is focused on improving patient decision-making and is supported by the NIH, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Alzheimer’s Association, the Betty and Gordon Moore Foundation, the Stupski Foundation, and the Melik-Baschkopf Foundation. He received his BA in philosophy from Harvard College his medical degree from the Yale School of Medicine, and a Masters of Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health. Following medical school, Dr. Volandes completed a residency in internal medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He then completed fellowships in medical ethics at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital. He was named the Edmond J. Safra Faculty Fellow in 2004-5 at the Harvard University Center for Ethics. His first book was just released by Bloomsbury Press and is titled, The Conversation: A Revolutionary Plan for End-of-Life Care. .