Pediatric Palliative Care welcomes new members

Meet the newest members of the Pediatric Palliative Care team!

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Jeanne MacDonald, MD

MD, University of Vermont College of Medicine
Residency, Mass General for Children
Fellowship in Palliative Care, Harvard

“I had extensive experience in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at MGfC prior to completing my fellowship in the Harvard Interdisciplinary Palliative Care Fellowship, where I spent a year on the Pediatric Advanced Care Team (PACT) team at Boston Children’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. There, I learned how to support children and families facing serious illness with special focus on enhancing quality of life. Working in a consulting role at MGfC is a new experience for me and is something that I hope to do well. I hope to add value to the care of all the patients our team encounters."

"My interests lie in optimizing quality of life for babies, children and teens/young adults with serious disease. This means supporting distressing symptoms throughout the disease course and supporting families as they navigate medical care. I hope to expand the role of our team in terms of symptom support for children with serious or advanced illness. Like all palliative care clinicians, I take a holistic approach to symptom support, thinking about both integrative and conventional modalities to address symptoms such as pain, irritability, dyspnea (labored breathing) and nausea.”

 

Justine Romano, MSW, LICSW

Master's in Social Work, Boston College School of Social Work

“Adding a social worker to the Pediatric Palliative Care team allows us to provide best practices in the field in which a multidisciplinary team approach is most current. Before joining the Pediatric Palliative Care team, I was a social worker in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at Mass General for Children (MGfC), in which I worked closely with the Pediatric Palliative Care team. I’ve also completed the Palliative Care Education and Practice course through Harvard University and I’ve been working on the larger Continuum Project through the hospital. This project helps implement advanced care planning earlier in the care of patients who would benefit from it.”