Robert M. Arnold, MD

Robert M. Arnold, MD, is the Vice Chair of Professional Development and professor in the Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He completed his medical school training at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and residency at Rhode Island Hospital. Subsequently, he was on the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh, where he was a Distinguished Service Professor and founded the Section of Palliative Care and Medical Ethics. In 2000, Dr. Arnold was named the first Leo H. Criep Chair of Patient Care. The chair emphasizes the importance of the doctor-patient relationship, particularly at the end of life. In 2024, he moved to the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He is clinically active in palliative care.

Dr. Arnold has published on end-of-life care, hospice and palliative care, doctor-patient communication, and ethics education. His current research interests are focused on educational interventions to improve communication in serious illnesses and better understand how ethical precepts are operationalized in clinical practice. He is also working with junior faculty to help them improve their teaching, administrative, and scholarly skills. He is the past president of the American Society of Bioethics and Humanities as well as the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine.