Craig David Blinderman, MD

Dr. Blinderman is an Associate Professor of Medicine and the Director of the Adult Palliative Medicine Service at Columbia University Medical Center/New-York Presbyterian Hospital and an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Department of Medicine. He was previously an attending physician on the Palliative Care Service at the Massachusetts General Hospital and co-directed the MGH Cancer Pain Clinic from 2007-2010.
Dr. Blinderman received his undergraduate degree in chemistry (Boston University) and a M.A. in philosophy (Columbia) before earning his medical degree from Ben Gurion University in Israel. He completed both a residency in Family Medicine and a fellowship in Hospice and Palliative Medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center in NY. He then went on to complete a Medical Ethics fellowship at Harvard Medical School..
Dr. Blinderman has published numerous original articles, reviews and chapters in the following areas: comfort care (Blinderman CD, Billings JA. NEJM, 2015) early palliative care in lung cancer patients (Temel et al. NEJM 2010), comfort care for the dying patient (NEJM, 2015), medical ethics, existential distress, symptom assessment and quality of life in chronic lung and heart failure patients, as well as cancer pain management, and the management of pain in patients with a history of substance abuse.
He currently is the section editor for Case Discussions in the Journal of Palliative Medicine.
His academic interests include: decision-making at the end of life, the role of palliative care in public health, palliative care in developing countries, medical ethics, and the integration of contemplative care and meditation in medical practice. He also has a strong interest in teaching and developing programs to improve students’ and residents' skills in communication and care for the dying. Dr. Blinderman also serves on the advisory board and teaches at the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.