Our Palliative Care Team
Team Members
Lachlan Forrow, MD, Director
Lachlan Forrow, MD is a general internist and Director of Ethics and Palliative Care Programs at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and President of The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship.
Dr. Forrow earned his A.B. (summa cum laude in Philosophy) from Princeton University in 1978 and his M.D. from Harvard Medical School (HMS) in 1983. As a senior medical student, he spent three months in Africa as an Albert Schweitzer Fellow at the Schweitzer Hospital in Lambaréné, Gabon. After completing his residency training in primary care internal medicine at Rhode Island Hospital/Brown University, he returned to Harvard for a two year Faculty Development Fellowship in General Internal Medicine, followed by a year as a Fellow in the Harvard University Program in Ethics and the Professions, where he continues as a Faculty Associate. He had primary responsibility for medical ethics curricula at HMS in the 1990’s. He is currently Director of the Ethics Support Service and of Ethics Programs generally within Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He served as a 1999-2001 Faculty Scholar for the Project on Death in America, sponsored by the Soros Foundation, and is currently Director of Palliative Care Programs at BIDMC. He has served as a member of the Harvard Medical School Human Studies Committee (1979-83), chaired the Human Studies Committee of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care (1989-94) and has served since 2000 as a member of the Institutional Review Board of the Dana Farber/Harvard Cancer Center.
Beginning as a medical student in 1980, Dr. Forrow has been active for more than twenty-five years in the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), which was honored in 1985 with the Nobel Peace Prize. Dr. Forrow has served as the New England Regional Director of IPPNW’s U.S. affiliate, Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR), and as a member of PSR’s Board of Directors and Executive Committee. From 1993-96, Dr. Forrow served as Chair of IPPNW’s Board of Directors, and in 1994-95 he served also as IPPNW’s Chief Executive Officer. He has served more recently as the organization’s Parliamentarian and helps lead the organization’s ICAN Campaign (www.icanw.org ) which seeks a Nuclear Weapons Convention, a treaty committing the world to the permanent, verifiable, and enforceable elimination of nuclear weapons in a specified timetable.
Dr. Forrow also serves as President of The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship and as Vice President and the U.S. representative on the governing Council of the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Lambaréné, Gabon. Founded in 1940 to support Dr. Schweitzer’s work when World War II interrupted supply lines from Europe, The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship administers a variety of programs designed to translate Dr. Schweitzer’s ethic of “Reverence for Life” into tangible action. These programs include: sending at least four senior U.S. medical students annually to serve as Schweitzer Fellows in Lambaréné; providing additional support for other programs (including village-based preventive and community health services) at the Lambaréné Hospital; and supporting over 200 health professional students each year as Schweitzer Fellows within the United States, who engage in public service activities through Schweitzer Fellows Programs in Baltimore, Bay Area/San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Houston-Galveston, Los Angeles, New Hampshire/Vermont, New Orleans, North Carolina, and Greater Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh.
In 2007 Dr. Forrow was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award for Community Service from Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Forrow has lectured widely and published numerous articles and book chapters on issues in medical ethics education, palliative care, medical decision-making, and the social responsibilities of physicians. His work has appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association, New England Journal of Medicine, Annals of Internal Medicine and other leading publications.
Julie Knopp, RN, NP, Associate Director
Julie Knopp is a certified Adult Nurse Practitioner who has been practicing for the past 30+years. As an RN she coordinated a home hospice program and worked for visiting nurse agencies. She has had inpatient medical and oncology experience early in her career. As a Nurse Practitioner she spent 14 years working with Beth Israel Home Care program providing primary care to homebound elders and people with disabilities. Her special interest is providing care for people with Dementia and their families and helping to keep people at home.
In 2000 Julie joined Dr. Lachlan Forrow in the start up of the Palliative Care Consult Service at BIDMC. She continues to work with the service as the program has expanded to include an interdisciplinary team. Julie’s interest in palliative care is ensuring patient centered goals of care, working with families of patients who cannot make their own decisions and helping patients and families feel safe and cared for in the last stage of life.
Mary Buss, MD, MPH
Dr. Buss completed fellowship training in both palliative medicine and in medical oncology. Currently, Dr. Buss attends on the inter-disciplinary palliative care consultation service at BIDMC approximately six months of the year. Additionally, she is a member of the gynecologic oncology program, where she sees patients with ovarian, uterine and cervical cancers. She is heavily involved in teaching medical residents and fellows through her clinical work and has a special interest in improving the content and quality of teaching on palliative care in medical education. Dr. Buss co-facilitates the Art of Oncology, an educational series dedicated to improving oncology fellows’ knowledge and skills in communication, symptom management and psychosocial aspects of cancer care. Her research interest is in exploring methods of improving the symptom management in patients with life-threatening illnesses with a special interest in delirium.
Cindy Lien, MD
Dr. Lien received her medical degree from Washington University in St. Louis and trained in internal medicine at University of California, San Francisco. She completed her palliative care training through the Harvard Palliative Medicine Fellowship, a combined program at Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Brigham and Women's Hospital. She is currently a hospitalist and palliative care physician at BIDMC. She has been instrumental in the growth of the BIDMC palliative care consultation service and in the development of palliative care teaching for internal medicine housestaff and anesthesia pain fellows. She has been an active educator in palliative medicine at both local and national levels, including an ongoing hospitalist education series at BIDMC, Harvard Medical School Center for Palliative Care Faculty Seminars, and annual meetings of the American Academy of Hospital Medicine (AAHPM) and Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM).
Annie Banks, LICSW
Annie Banks is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker and a Senior Social Worker at BIDMC who has been practicing in the field of medical social work for nearly 20 years. Ms. Banks developed a strong interest in palliative care through experience in inpatient medicine and oncology, and she thereafter worked for more than 10 years providing clinical social work support and bereavement services to home hospice patients and their loved ones in the Boston area. Ms. Banks joined the Palliative Care Consultation Service at BIDMC in 2005 to expand upon the service’s existing commitment to addressing the psychological, emotional, social and spiritual needs of patients and their family members of all ages in the face of serious illness and to providing access to bereavement care. Ms. Banks holds a bachelors degree in Cultural Anthropology and is very interested in varying cultural and spiritual approaches to illness and bereavement as well as providing education to medical professionals about the psychosocial-spiritual aspects of care. In addition, Ms. Banks has training in Mind/Body Medicine and brings related techniques to patients, families and staff to support enhanced quality of life. She is a member of the International Association of Reiki Professionals and the Society for the Arts in Healthcare.
