Tessie October, M.D., M.P.H., is a board-certified physician in pediatrics, pediatric critical care and palliative and hospice medicine. She blends the expertise from these three areas into her academic interests as a clinical scientist, focusing on centering the patient and family during critical decision-making. As an NIH-funded investigator, Dr. October explores interventions that teach the healthcare team high-quality communication skills necessary to support family decision-making. She also develops interventions to activate families to ensure they have an equal seat at the decision-making table. As an educator, Dr. October uses her expertise to train the next generation of physicians and faculty to provide empathetic, family-centered care. Her academic mission is to transform the process of family-healthcare team communication to improve outcomes for patients, families and staff.
In her personal life, Dr. October is a mother of three children and enjoys writing about work-life balance as well as traveling, getting lost in a novel and completing crossword puzzles.