Marie Bakitas

Marie Bakitas pioneered nurse-led palliative care interventions and telehealth delivery of palliative services to rural cancer patients. Her landmark ENABLE trials demonstrated that early nurse-led palliative care coaching could improve quality of life and reduce symptom burden for patients with advanced cancer in underserved settings. She has extended this model to rural and minority populations who historically lack access to specialist palliative care. Her work has transformed how palliative care can be scaled and delivered outside major cancer centers.