OBERLIN, OHIO – Dr. Diane Meier ’73 has dedicated her life to helping others. Her work as a geriatrician and advocate for the advancement of palliative care is focused on treating the physical and psychological distress of patients in both early and advanced stages of serious illness.

Meier’s commitment to this emerging area of medicine has helped make the benefits of palliative care available to millions of Americans, and her extraordinary achievements have earned her the distinction of being named a 2008 MacArthur Fellow by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Dr. Meier is one of 25 new MacArthur Fellows for 2008. She will receive $500,000 in “no strings attached” support over the next five years to continue her current work or take her work in a new direction. “The MacArthur Fellows Program celebrates extraordinarily creative individuals who inspire new heights in human achievement,” said MacArthur President Jonathan Fanton. Meier is the seventh Oberlin graduate named a MacArthur Fellow since 1984.

As the director of the Center to Advanced Palliative Care at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, Meier found in her studies that a high percentage of seriously ill patients in hospitals were experiencing limited communication between themselves and clinicians, poor management of pain, and insufficient support and social services for family caregivers.

To fill these voids, she established the Hertzberg Palliative Care Institute, a model program that assists patients and families in navigating the complexities of illness and devises strategies for managing pain and other symptoms, such as anxiety, depression, sleeplessness, and loss of appetite.

“What I love about medicine is the incredible opportunity to be with and connect with other human beings at moments of real truth and clarity and profound experience,” said Meier.  “In many ways I see the field of palliative care as rekindling the originating impulses of the healing profession.

“The MacArthur Fellowship is a huge statement that palliative care is a key part of the solution. Clearly in my view this award is not for me.  This fellowship is for everyone who has been working so hard in this field for so many years.  I view this fellowship as a statement of recognition of everyone’s work.”

Meier earned a BA (1973) at Oberlin College and an MD (1977) at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. She completed her residency (1978-1981) at Oregon Health and Science University. Since 1983, she has been affiliated with the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Medical Center, where she currently serves as a professor of geriatrics and internal medicine, director of the Hertzberg Palliative Care Institute, and director of the Center to Advance Palliative Care.