The Work of Dr. Richard Payne
If you ask people what palliative care means, you will likely get a range of responses. At its basis, palliative care focuses on quality of life, including pain relief and support for patients with serious illnesses as well as their families. Many people conflate palliative care with hospice care, hospice being one type of palliative care. Along with a broad and overly simplified interpretation of palliative care as “a death sentence,” a legacy of racism in medicine adds to complexities in these discussions for people of color.
Dr. Richard Payne (1951-2019) was a physician and researcher recognized internationally as an expert in palliative care, pain management, oncology, and neurology. His work focused on medicine and spirituality, as well as palliative and end of life care for African Americans. His career involved leading programs at several distinguished institutions, including the Pain and Palliative Care Service of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, among others. At Duke, Dr. Payne was the Esther Colliflower Professor of Medicine and Divinity and directed the Duke Institute on Care at the End of Life. Throughout his career, Dr. Payne worked towards addressing health disparities and improving information and access to palliative care for people of color. This exhibit is a small representation of the Dr. Richard Payne papers held at the Rubenstein Library. We are grateful to Terrie Payne, Dr. Payne’s wife, for her generous donation of the materials.
