Shoshana Helman, MD

Since coming to Redwood City in 2011, Shoshana Helman, MD, has led the growth of the Inpatient Palliative Care program and supported the development of an outpatient Palliative Care service. Both now have a full complement of interdisciplinary teams.

Believing that these services were often underutilized and not well understood, Dr. Helman launched a concerted effort to expand the department’s services to a greater number of patients.

She reached out to many departments to demonstrate how supportive care could benefit their patients. She facilitates collaboration among all the physicians caring for a patient, and encourages them to consider supportive care in developing a treatment plan. She has given many CME lectures and co-chaired the highly successful Palliative Care Symposium held in May 2015. She played a leadership role in helping the regional Life Care Planning Team roll out the Respecting Choices model of advance care planning in the inpatient setting.

Her efforts have significantly increased the number of patients benefitting from palliative care services in Redwood City. During her tenure, combined inpatient and outpatient referrals have increased from 350 to over 1,000 per year.

“Dr. Helman’s intelligence, empathy, and compassion make her a natural leader,” says James O’Donnell, MD, Physician-in-Chief, Redwood City. “She has helped all of us see palliative care in a new light.”