About Dr. Abrahm
Janet L. Abrahm, M.D. is a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She is both a former practicing oncologist and an expert in the palliative care needs of patients with cancer. She has over 20 years experience in the forefront of palliative care at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. She is the author of four comprehensive books on supportive and palliative care for patients with cancer and cancer pain management, and she is an award-winning clinician and educator in palliative care.
Dr. Abrahm is:
She attended the University of California, San Francisco, completed her internship and residency at Massachusetts General Hospital, and served as chief resident in medicine at Moffitt Hospital of UCSF. She then completed her fellowships in hematology and oncology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where she stayed on to work for twenty years. She is board certified in Hematology, Hospice and Palliative Medicine, Internal Medicine, and Oncology. She has held dozens of major administrative leadership positions and has participated in numerous national and international palliative care educational projects.
Beyond her work at Dana Farber and Harvard Medical School in the field of palliative care, from 2010-2022 Dr. Abrahm lectured on palliative care in the DFCI Master Course for oncologists throughout the US. Since 2010 she has participated internationally in the Education in Palliative and End-of-Life (EPEC)-Oncology course as a Master teacher. She is also part of the ASCO international palliative care faculty and mentorship group, with two active international mentees at present, from Indonesia and Australia. She also served for almost ten years in the leadership of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine and was a member of the first examination writing committee for the Hospice and Palliative Medicine certifying examination offered by the American Board of Internal Medicine.
In 1997, Dr. Abrahm received the first NIH R25 funding for a Fellowship in palliative care. It supported one fellow per year from 1997-2002 and was competitively renewed, supporting the training of two palliative care clinical fellows per year at DFCI/BWH/MGH from 2002-2007. Beyond the four editions of her ground-breaking book, Dr. Abrahm continues to innovate in the world of palliative care. Since 2008, she has been part of a research team focused on developing an electronic, rule-based clinical decision support system (CDS) for symptoms that leverages national clinical practice guidelines to improve the evaluation and cancer pain management during treatment. She writes the algorithms enabling the CDS to create the tailored, patient-specific recommendations for oncology clinicians, which include exact specifications for nonpharmacologic therapies (e.g., amount of exercise) as well as which drugs and what doses should be used.
Dr. Abrahm’s advances in supportive and palliative care have earned her a number of awards. In 2024, she was honored by ASCO with one of their highest awards, the Walther Cancer Foundation Supportive Oncology Award, recognizing distinguished leaders who have made important contributions to palliative and supportive oncology care by advancing the prevention, assessment, and management of cancer and treatment-related suffering. In 2022 she was honored with the USCF Alumni Discover Award which recognizes an alum who has made outstanding achievements creating positive change through basic science/health care research and has brought distinction to themselves and the UCSF community. In 2022 she also earned the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine award for Excellence in Education and Training. In 2019, she was given the Dana Farber Edward J. Benz Award for Advancing Careers of Women Faculty. Dr. Abrahm has been named a Top Doctor in America each year from 2007, and a Top Doc in Boston each year since 2008.
Dr. Abrahm was a practicing oncologist for over 20 years and knows first-hand the emotional difficulty of working with patients with cancer. Through her oncology practice at the Philadelphia VAMC, she became aware of the crucial role of symptom management, identifying the drugs and techniques (e.g., hypnosis) that helped patients tolerate the life-prolonging treatments they were undergoing. That expert palliative care could be lifesaving for patients with cancer led her to her role as a founder of the field of palliative care.
Integrating comfort into the cure: barriers and benefits
“Dr. Abrahm is a master clinician and educator. Her counsel is wise yet practical and her judgment is impeccable.”
Michael Fisch MD, MPH
Clinical Professor, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Senior National Medical Director, Oncology Programs and Genetics, Carelon Medical Benefits Management
“I’ve had the enormous privilege of working side by side with the great doctors throughout my career. Dr Abrahm transcends as an uncommon source of experience and wisdom for all practicing oncologists.”
David Ryan, MD
Chief Hematology Oncology, MGH; Clinical Director, MGH cancer center; Shelby Memorial Professor of Medicine in the Field of Cancer Therapeutics, Harvard Medical School
“Through her books, talks, seminars, counseling, or training, Dr. Abrahm consistently demonstrates her consummate understanding of blending the art and science of caring for cancer patients and their family. She is a resource beyond measure.”
Kathleen M Foley, MD
Member Emeritus, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
“Dr. Abrahm is the go-to expert for symptom management as well as the role model for how to have essential conversations with patients about their values, goals and wishes in order to ensure they receive the care they want.”
Lynn M Schuchter, MD
Professor of Medicine, Director of the Tara Miller Melanoma Center, Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania, 2023-2024 ASCO president
“Her ability to go toe-to-toe with the best in American medicine while maintaining excellence, grace, and humor, makes her an icon among physicians in our field.”
Charles F von Gunten, MD, PhD
Past Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Palliative Care
“Dr. Abrahm is a spectacular clinician, a world authority on pain and symptom management, a superb teacher, and an extraordinary mentor. She has a nearly encyclopedic knowledge about palliative medicine. Her knowledge and ready accessibility have made her a go to team member for complicated clinical questions.”
James Tulsky, MD
Chair, Department of Psychosocial Oncology and Palliative Care, Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
"Dr Abrahm is a brilliant clinician, whose empathy, warmth, humor, and knowledge improve the care for all her patients. Those same virtues emerge in her sparkling lectures, which are the highlight of any oncology symposium.”
Harold J Burstein, MD, PhD, FACP
Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Editor in Chief, JNCCN, Chair, ASCO guidelines on endocrine therapy for breast cancer
“I have worked with Janet Abrahm in the US and international settings. She is a sensitive, thorough and deeply knowledgeable. She is always able to read her audience and adjust her style to meet their needs. This is not easy to do, and Janet does this effortlessly and gracefully.”
Joshua Hauser, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine and Medical Education and Palliative Medicine Fellowship Director, Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine