Dr. Lucy Kalanithi

Dr. Lucy Kalanithi is an internal medicine physician and advocate for patient-centered care, end-of-life care, and healthcare value. Kalanithi serves as a clinical associate professor of medicine at Stanford University and is recognized for her contributions to patient-centered care. She earned her medical degree at Yale and completed her residency at the University of California–San Francisco, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in healthcare delivery innovation at Stanford's Clinical Excellence Research Center. Kalanithi is a fellow of the American College of Physicians.

Kalanithi has implemented healthcare delivery models in primary care, hospitals, and health systems, and has served on leadership boards for TEDMED, the Coalition to Transform Advanced Care, and the American College of Physicians. In addition to her academic role, she practices at Stanford Health Care, with professional interests in healthcare value, meaning in medicine, and healthcare delivery innovation. She has been recognized by Mass General Cancer Center's the one hundred and Stanford's Medical Staff Awards.

Kalanithi gained international recognition through her connection to the memoir "When Breath Becomes Air." She is the widow of Dr. Paul Kalanithi, author of the New York Times-bestselling memoir "When Breath Becomes Air," for which she wrote the epilogue. The book, a meditation on mortality and meaning, has been translated into more than 40 languages. Kalanithi contributed to completing the manuscript after her husband's passing and speaks on the intersection of her medical career and her personal experience as a caregiver.

Drawing on her experience as both a physician and a caregiver, Kalanithi addresses topics such as caregiving, end-of-life care, bereavement, and resilience in medicine. She has been a speaker at TEDMED and has appeared on NPR, PBS NewsHour, Yahoo News with Katie Couric, The New York Times, Elle, and Charlie Rose. Kalanithi also explores issues of medicine and mortality in her "Gravity" podcast, where she shares personal reflections, poetry, and in-depth conversations. Her work bridges clinical expertise with personal insight, engaging audiences in discussions about mortality, caregiving, and the human experience in medicine.