Ira Robert Byock is an American physician, author, and advocate for palliative care.
13 Facts About Ira Byock
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Ira Byock is founder and chief medical officer of the Providence St Joseph Health Institute for Human Caring in Torrance, California, and holds appointments as active emeritus professor of medicine and professor of community health and family medicine at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College.
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Ira Byock's books include Dying Well, The Four Things That Matter Most, and The Best Care Possible.
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Ira Byock earned a bachelor's degree in biology from the University of Colorado, Boulder, in 1973, and Doctor of Medicine from the University of Colorado School of Medicine-Denver in 1978.
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Ira Byock holds certifications from the American Board of Family Practice, the American Board of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, and the American Board of Emergency Medicine.
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Ira Byock is a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Medicine and the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine.
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In 1996, Ira Byock was asked to lead the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's national program in Promoting Excellence in End-of-Life Care, intended to expand access to hospice and palliative care to regions and populations not easily served under the Medicare Hospice Benefit.
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Also in 1996, with separate funding from another program area of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Ira Byock co-founded and served as principal investigator for the Missoula Demonstration Project, a community organization focused on studying the experiences of illness, dying, caregiving, and grieving within the context of community, and engaging the community of Missoula, Montana in improving care and support for seriously ill people and their families.
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In late 2003, Ira Byock moved to New Hampshire as director of palliative medicine for Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and associate director for patient and family-centered care at the affiliated Norris-Cotton Cancer Center.
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Ira Byock remains an active emeritus professor of medicine and of community health and family medicine at Dartmouth's Geisel School of Medicine.
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Ira Byock has been critical of right to die movements, physician-assisted suicide, the Oregon Death with Dignity Act, and the California End of Life Option Act.
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Ira Byock has appeared as a featured guest on national television and radio programs, including NPR's Talk of the Nation, All Things Considered, Fresh Air, American Public Media's On Being, CBS's 60 Minutes, ABC News Nightline, and PBS NewsHour.
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Ira Byock is married to Yvonne Corbeil who is a nurse and currently serves as Senior Advisor for the Institute for Human Caring, Providence St Joseph Health and Co-Director, Clinical Transformation Specialists.