Helen M. Fernandez, MD, MPH

Dr. Fernandez is a palliative care physician and geriatrician. As Vice Chair of Education, Dr. Fernandez leads the largest geriatrics and palliative training programs in the country which trains 20% of the workforce and has served as a mentor to many students, residents, fellows and faculty. She has presented on many national and international meetings including the World Gerontology Conference, Society of General Internal Medicine, ACP Annual Meeting, AAHPM, AGS, the ACP International Meeting and the International Association for Medical Education Annual Conference. In 2011, she co-created the first integrated geriatrics and palliative care fellowship which has now been disseminated to 13 other institutions. She has received several teaching awards including the Leo Tow Gold Humanism Award, The Jeffrey T. Laitman, PhD Alumni Achievement Award at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Jacobi Medallion Award. In 2023, Dr. Fernandez became the principal investigator for the Brookdale Foundation Grant to further advance leadership training in geriatrics and palliative medicine and transform healthcare for older adults and those living with serious and chronic illness.