Emily Martin, MD Appointed to Director of the UCLA Palliative Care Program
We are pleased to announce the appointment of Emily Martin, MD, as the Director of the UCLA Palliative Care Program starting on July 1, 2024, overseeing the inpatient and outpatient palliative care services in the Department of Medicine at UCLA Health.
Dr. Emily Martin graduated magna cum laude from the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University, completed internal medicine residency and palliative medicine fellowship at the University of California, San Diego, and earned a Master of Science in Health Policy and Management from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.
Dr. Martin has served as UCLA’s Associate Director of Palliative Care since April 2023. She also serves as the palliative care quality lead, the Director of Inpatient Palliative Care Services, and a UCLA Health Physician Informaticist. In addition to her contributions at UCLA, Dr. Martin is actively involved in national efforts to advance the field and sits on the following committees: the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM) Quality Committee, the AAHPM Annual Assembly Committee, the Partnership for Quality Measurement’s Endorsement and Maintenance Committee, and the American Radium Society Appropriate Use Criteria Committee on Palliation and Symptom Management. Additionally, she is President of the Society for Palliative Radiation Oncology (SPRO), an international professional society dedicated to advancing palliative radiotherapy and promoting excellence in primary palliative care in radiation oncology.
Since joining UCLA faculty in 2018, Dr. Martin has authored 30 publications, presented her academic work at eight national conferences, and received the following national awards: the American Society of Clinical Oncology Conquer Cancer Foundation Merit Award, the AAHPM Palliative Medicine Access Scholarship Award, the AAHPM Emerging Leader Award, the SPRO Rising Star Award, and the AAHPM Leadership Scholars Award. Dr. Martin was named a Fellow of AAHPM in 2022.
We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to Dr. Christopher Pietras for his leadership in the Palliative Care Program since 2016. Dr. Pietras brought a vision to improve the care of persons and their families with serious illness and has been instrumental in the Program’s start and growth, with expansion of inpatient services at RR-UCLA and Santa Monica Hospital and outpatient services in Westwood, Santa Monica, and Westlake Village. He was also involved in oversight of the Santa Monica Comfort Care Beds. He served as the Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship Program Director from 2016-2017, and as the Geriatrics-Palliative Medicine Fellowship Program Director from 2020-2022, and serves as a core faculty member. Under his leadership, over 40 faculty and staff and 60 fellows were recruited to the program. He developed numerous curricula around serious illness communication workshops and mentored many faculty, learners, and staff at UCLA. He strove to integrate high quality Palliative clinical care, education, research, and community service, with the goal of improving generalist palliative care knowledge and skills, while assuring high quality specialty Palliative Care. The Palliative Care Team was awarded the Dream Team Award from the Santa Monica Hospital Board of Advisors in 2024. Dr. Pietras will work with our newly appointed Palliative Care Director to ensure that we continue delivering exceptional patient care, teaching our talented trainees, and contributing to innovative research.
Please join us in congratulating and welcoming Dr. Martin into this new role!
Sun Yoo, MD, MPH
Section Chief, Extensivist and Palliative Care Services
Chief Wellness Officer
Department of Medicine | UCLA Health
Carol M. Mangione, MD, MSPH
Chief, Division of General Internal Medicine & Health Services Research
Executive Vice Chair for Health Equity and Health Services Research
Barbara A. Levey & Gerald S. Levey Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Public Health at UCLA
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