Jennifer S. Temel

Jennifer S. Temel, MD is Director of Cancer Outcomes Research at Massachusetts General Hospital and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She is best known for her landmark 2010 New England Journal of Medicine study demonstrating that early palliative care integration in patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer not only improved quality of life and mood, but was associated with longer survival compared to standard oncologic care alone. This randomized controlled trial fundamentally shifted how the oncology community approaches palliative care — moving it from end-of-life practice to a concurrent therapeutic partner. Dr. Temel has continued to expand this paradigm, leading trials of early palliative care in other advanced cancer populations and investigating patient-reported outcomes, goals of care conversations, and health care utilization at the end of life. She has authored over 180 peer-reviewed publications and serves on national guidelines committees for palliative care integration in oncology.