Cicely Saunders International Annual Lecture 2020

Our Annual Lectures provide clinicians, healthcare researchers, health policymakers and palliative care funders with a unique opportunity to learn from world-leading clinicians and scientists.

Our 2020 event celebrated the Centenary of the Cicely Saunders Institute and featured Professor Steven Pantilat, Dr Eve Namisango and Professor Irene Higginson as they examined the global role and response of palliative care to COVID-19 in the UK, USA and Africa. 

Watch the recording and find out more about the speakers below.

Perspectives on using telemedicine to support palliative care during the COVID-19 pandemic with Professor Steve Pantilat

Professor Pantilat is the Kates-Burnard and Hellman Distinguished Professor in Palliative Care, Inaugural Chief of the Division of Palliative Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, USA.

Dr Pantilat is an internationally recognised expert in Palliative Care. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed scientific papers, authored more than two dozen book chapters, and co-edited with colleagues at UCSF two textbooks on palliative care titled, “Care at the Close of Life” and “Hospital-Based Palliative Medicine.” Dr Pantilat is the Director of the Palliative Care Quality Network, an international collaboration of 130 Palliative Care teams dedicated to improving the quality of care for seriously ill people and their families. He chairs the Advisory Board for the Cambia Health Foundation’s Sojourns Scholar Leadership Award and co-directs the UCSF Palliative Care Leadership Center. Dr Pantilat also works to engage and educate the public about the benefits of palliative care. He is the author of, “Life After the Diagnosis: Expert Advice on Living Well with Serious Illness for Patients and their Caregivers” published by DaCapo Lifelong Books in 2017 and he gave a TEDMED talk in 2019. Dr Pantilat and the palliative care team at UCSF are featured in the Academy Award-nominated, Netflix documentary, “End Game.”

The impact of COVID-19 on palliative care in Africa: Challenges, opportunities and emerging innovations with Dr Eve Namisango 

Eve is a Programmes and Research Manager, African Palliative Care Association, Honorary Health Scientist at the College of Medicine, Makerere University. Eve coordinates the 180-member African Palliative Care Research Network, which aims to build capacity in research and knowledge translation in Africa. She has over 15 years’ experience in Global Health research and is a co-investigator on the COVID-19 Pandemic Rapid Evidence Syntheses Group for Uganda (COVPRES). Eve is a panelist on the African Global Health Security COVID-19 initiative, which is setting priorities for Enhancing Good Mental Health in Africa in the current era and a member of the Evidence consortium on women’s groups in Africa.

Role and response of palliative care: findings from the multinational COVPALL study with Professor Irene Higginson

Professor Higginson is Director of the Cicely Saunders Institute, the world’s first purpose-built institute of palliative care, integrating research, education, clinical services and support and information. She is an NIHR Senior Investigator and was in 2013 awarded Fellowship of the Academy of Medical Sciences, for her contribution to the field. She has several active research programmes, setup and now contributes to the MSc, Diploma and Certificate in Palliative Care, supervises several PhD students and is active in teaching. Professor Higginson has published over 700 articles in peer-reviewed journals, plus several books; her research interests and publications are in the following areas: quality of life and outcome measurements, evaluation of palliative care especially of new services and interventions, epidemiology, clinical audit, effectiveness, psychosocial care, symptom assessment, breathlessness, cachexia/anorexia, and elderly care. She plays an active role in the clinical service, including on-call, and is Assistant Medical Director at King’s College Hospital. Professor Higginson is Vice Dean for Research in the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care and Scientific Director for the charity Cicely Saunders International. She is well known for extending palliative care beyond cancer, and for her work in breathlessness and home care. She is dedicated to ensuring research influences and improves care and practice.