VCU Massey Cancer Center has been at the forefront of palliative care for decades. In 2005, the program earned the prestigious Circle of Life Award for its pioneering approaches to symptom management and for its commitment to making palliative medicine part of the definition of high-quality care. Today, Massey’s leadership is exemplified by its training and its research as well.
Massey provides patients with a continuity of palliative care across the continuum of need through three different venues:
- An active consult service that brings expert pain and symptom management to the patient’s bedside anywhere within the VCU Medical Center
- The Thomas Palliative Care Unit at Massey, which is an 11-bed inpatient unit with a unique, home-like atmosphere
- A supportive care clinic for outpatient cancer visits
Massey’s palliative care leaders are internationally and nationally recognized in their fields.
- Egidio Del Fabbro, M.D., is an expert in palliative medicine and known for his clinical and research interest in cancer-related fatigue and cachexia (involuntary loss of weight caused by disease). Del Fabbro has furthered Massey’s tradition of innovation by creating a supportive care clinic where cancer patients can receive advanced pain and symptom management on an outpatient basis.
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Our program focuses not only on providing excellent inpatient and outpatient care but also on education and research.
Award-winning palliative care
Massey has earned an abundance of national and international awards for palliative care.
- 2020: Richmond Magazine top docs: Palliative care (adult): Danielle Noreika (top voted), Erin Alesi; Pediatric Palliative and Hospice Care: Kelly Lastrapes; Hospice care (adult): Danielle Noreika (top voted), Erin Alesi, Meera Pahuja
- 2000: Milibank Memorial Fund Pioneer Award
- 2019: Richmond Magazine top docs: Palliative Care (adult): Danielle Noreika, Erin Alesi; Hospice Care (adult): Danielle Noreika, Erin Alesi
- 2018: Richmond Magazine top docs: Palliative Care (adult): Danielle Noreika (top voted), Erin Alesi; Hospice Care (adult): Erin Ales
- 2017: Richmond Magazine top docs, Palliative Care (adult) Erin Alesi & Danielle Noreika; Palliative Care (Pediatric) Kelly Lastrapes(CHOR); Hospice Care, Erin Alesi
- 2016: Richmond Magazine top docs, Hospice Care, Erin Alesi; Palliative Care (Adult) Erin Alesi & Egidio Del Fabbro; Palliative Care (Pediatric) Jean Teasley (CHOR)
- 2016: Our Health Richmond awards, Palliative Care category: Bedside Manner, Best Health Care Providers in the Community
- 2010: European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) Designated Center of Integrated Oncology and Palliative Care; reaccredited 2013, 2016, 2020.
- 2009-10: Veterans Affairs Palliative Care Leadership Training Center
- 2009: VCU Educational Innovation Award for helping to create the Palliative Care Leadership Program and the Virginia Initiative for Palliative Care
- 2009: National Palliative Care Consensus Panel Quality of Care Award for best interdisciplinary high-quality care (one of seven national winners)
- 2008: Hematology Oncology News International HOPE award for clinical excellence for integration of palliative care into regular cancer care
- 2007: LifeNet Award for service in organ transplantation
- 2006: Best University Program, awarded by the International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care
- 2005: AHA Circle of Life Award; at that time, Massey’s program was one of only three in the nation to win the prestigious Circle of Life Award from the American Hospital Association. The award is given for innovation in the field of palliative care
- 2003 to present: National Palliative Care Leadership Center for Cancer, originally awarded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Center to Advance Palliative Care