Palliatively Speaking Episode 3 - Mentoring the Next Great Leaders

Guest: Stephanie Harman

Guest's guest: Shireen Heidari

In this episode, Dr. Stephanie Harman, a palliative care physician and leader at Stanford, takes us through her remarkable leadership journey. From founding Stanford’s Palliative Care clinical program to establishing a leadership development program for women in medicine, Dr. Harman shares invaluable insights into the challenges and triumphs of building successful programs for the next generation. Dr. Harman shares how she draws on her expertise and experience as a palliative care provider to drive her leadership initiatives, emphasizing a process-oriented approach over outcomes and placing a strong focus on cultivating communication skills in leadership programs. 

A central theme of the conversation is mentorship—Dr. Harman shares how she was guided by leaders like Dr. Bob Arnold and how she now pays it forward by supporting and advocating for junior faculty and empowering them to thrive and succeed in their careers. Dr. Shireen Heidari, the program director for the Stanford University Hospice and Palliative Fellowship, joins the conversation to discuss the role of narrative medicine, emphasizing how writing can help process the emotional intensity of palliative care. Together, they explore the importance of communication, the lessons learned from working with seriously ill patients, and the need for ongoing mentorship to cultivate purposeful leadership in palliative care.