Our specialty-trained Palliative Care Interdisciplinary team includes physicians, APPs, nurses, social workers, and chaplains, working closely with legacy project specialists, child life specialists to help relieve complex suffering and improve quality of life for patients with advancing cancer and their families.
- Joint Commission Accredited Palliative Care Program
- Whole person and family approach to improve quality of life, for all stages of disease
- End-of-life care
- Physical, emotional, and spiritual support
- Both pain and non-pain symptom management
- Values-based goals of care discussions
- Advance care planning
- Child life specialists
- Medical cannabis
- Vital Talk communication skills training for all clinicians at Roswell Park
Social work
Our licensed clinical social workers collaborate closely with the Palliative Care division. They are often the first call for any mental health-related issues, to assist patients and their families with the many challenges faced when dealing with a cancer diagnosis.
Patients are then connected with appropriate mental health services, including psychology or psychiatry, as well as internal Roswell Park and community agencies, resources, individual counseling, and discharge planning and placement.
- Emotional support
- Linkage to community home support and agencies
- Hospice referrals
- Financial assistance
- Disability concerns
- Legal assistance referrals
- Housing and transportation
- Foreign language assistance
Department of Psychosocial Oncology
Learn about our research programs
Center for Translational Research on Cannabis and Cancer
The Center for Translational Research on Cannabis and Cancer (CTRCC) launched in 2021, with the goal to understand if, to what extent, and how cannabis and cannabinoid use impacts the health and well-being of individuals and the community they live in.
“We work to provide our community with scientific evidence and evidence-based practiced that optimize the therapeutic applications and minimize health risks of cannabis use as it related to cancer prevention, care and public health.”
Psychedelic Science Initiative
The Psychedelic Science Initiative (PSI) at Roswell Park launched in 2024 with the goal of understanding how psychedelics, such as psilocybin, may help alleviate physical, psychological, and spiritual symptoms that contribute to suffering in those with cancer.
The PSI is an interdisciplinary team consisting of physicians, scientists, pharmacists, psychologists, nurses, social workers, statisticians, and research coordinators that seeks to address questions on the potential benefits, risks, and mechanisms of psychedelic therapy for patients enduring physical, psychological, and spiritual suffering that is often associated with the cancer experience.
Leadership
