Moving Palliative and End-of-life Care Forward

May 17-21, 2010
Tory Building TB 95
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Luc Deliens, MA (Sociology), MSc, PhD (Health Sciences)

Head of the End-of-Life Care Research Group at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Chair of the Palliative Care Centre of Expertise, at the VU University Medical Centre in Amsterdam.

He has received many scientific awards for his research and has published extensively on palliative, end-of-life care and end-of-life decision-making. His research has been published in leading general medical journals (New Eng J Med, JAMA, the Lancet, Brit Med J, Arch Int Med), leading palliative care journals (J Pain Symptom Manag, Pal Med) and in other specialised journals in the fields of geriatrics, nursing, oncology, paediatrics, critical care medicine, etc.

Internationally, he is member of the Advisory Editorial Board of Palliative Medicine; Advisory Board to the Scientific Committee of the Research Forum of the European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC); Advisory Committee for the National Cancer Research Institute – funded Supportive and Palliative Care ‘Cancer Experiences’ (CECo), United Kingdom; and the Scientific Advisory Group to the “New WHO Guide Palliative Care for the Older People: Better Practice”, coordinated by King’s College London (KCL), United Kingdom. He is currently supervising twenty-five PhD research projects and several international studies in the area of palliative care and end-of-life decision-making.

His present research includes studies on place of death, care setting transitions at the end of life, palliative care in general practice, palliative care in nursing homes, do-not-resuscitate orders, advance care planning, end-of-life communication, terminal sedation in medical practice, euthanasia and other medical end-of-life decisions as well as the attitudes of the public towards palliative care and euthanasia across Europe.

Topics:

• Location of death trends and factors affecting place of death, with a specific focus provided on Europe
• Why is there a need to focus on rural people?