Ira Byock

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Ira Robert Byock ( ; born February 13, 1951, Newark, New Jersey) is an American physician, author, and advocate for palliative care. He 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. He was director of palliative medicine at Dartmouth–Hitchcock Medical Center, from 2003–14, and associate director for patient and family-centered care at the affiliated Norris-Cotton Cancer Center.

Byock's early career focused on emergency medicine and rural practice in parallel with an interest in hospice care, and then founded the Missoula Demonstration Project and became director for the Robert Wood Johnson Promoting Excellence in End-of-Life Care initiative. His books include ''Dying Well'' (1997), ''The Four Things That Matter Most'' (2004), and ''The Best Care Possible'' (2012).