Joan M. Teno, M.D., M.S. is a Professor of Community Health and Medicine and Associate Director of the Center for Gerontology and Health Care Research at the Brown Medical School.  She is a health services researcher, hospice medical director, and board-certified internist with added qualifications in Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine.

Dr. Teno has served on numerous advisory panels including the Institute of Medicine, World Health Organization, American Bar Association and as grant peer reviewer for the National Institutes of Health.  Both as a researcher and clinician, Dr. Teno has devoted her career to understanding how to measure and improve the quality of end of life care for vulnerable populations.  She is an Associate Medical Director at Home and Hospice Care of Rhode Island.

Her current research is focused on the quality of care for persons with serious illnesses, especially those residing in the nursing home setting:

• Development of actionable measurement tools to guide both quality improvement and public accountability for seriously ill and dying persons.
• Improving pain management in the nursing home setting.
• Describing the role of public policy and local health care market on the quality of care for seriously ill and dying nursing home residents.

Over 100 research articles have been published in leading medical journals focusing on examining medical care for dying persons and frail persons residing in nursing homes.  Information about some of Dr. Teno's research efforts can be viewed by visiting her websites at:

www.chcr.brown.edu/pcoc/toolkit.htm
www.chcr.brown.edu/dying/factsondying.htm