Background

The author, Dr. Kashyap Patel is a very well-known oncologist across the globe. In India, the author has been involved in treating well known patients, from 3 of the top 50 industrialists in the country, to prominent educationalists like the DY Patil family, and provided treatment remotely to Mr. Aleyque Padamsee.

The author is very well qualified to write this book. Kashyap Patel is a quadruple board-certified cancer specialist who has lived in three different continents and has been working with cancer patients for over twenty years. He is licensed to practice medicine in India, England, and the United States, and is certified to practice oncology in six different American states. He has been known internationally for his work in the field of cancer. He is involved in enhancing patient care aspects by virtue of his presidency of the state oncology society. He is on the speaking circuit at a national level addressing audiences ranging from fifty to over two thousand medical professionals. He has extensive research experience and also has numerous awards for his pioneering research in cancer. As chief medical officer for the one of the largest hospice care agencies in the US, Dr. Patel been responsible for the TLC of over a thousand patients at any given time. Dr. Patel has dealt with death almost on a daily base. He is a trainer who teaches other doctors how to initiate the discussion about death and dying. He conducts live-in retreats for other doctors and healthcare providers to experience role play as a teaching tool to initiate discussions about end of life care.

Dr. Patel has been a keynote speaker at a large medical association meeting on the topic of “Dying Better in the US”. He has authored several articles on death and dying in national journals and magazines. Dr. Patel is a full time practicing medical oncologist, board certified in Hematology, Oncology, and Internal Medicine. He is an immediate past president of the South Carolina Oncology Society. He has served as chairman of several committees in numerous South Carolina hospitals. Dr. Patel has extensive research experience in the field of oncology and have published and presented articles in journals (nationally and internationally), and has received research merit awards from largest association of oncologists (over thirty thousand members) during fellowship for research in melanoma.

Dr. Patel serves as a vice president for the Community Oncology Alliance (COA) – national advocacy group for cancer patients (www.communityoncology.org). He is also a Chairman of Clinical Affairs and a member of Board of Trustees for the Association of community cancer centers (ACCC-www.accc-cancer.org). He also serves on advisory board for the National Center for Quality Assurance (NCQA-www.ncqa.org). As an advisor/trustee of these national organizations, he gets frequent invitations to speak and/or participate on discussions at the United States Senate, Capitol Hill and to the White House several times. He also has been asked to testify at the state senate health affairs and finance committee on healthcare related issues.

Dr. Patel has been an advisor for the several divisions of the Department of Health and Human Services (SC) and local Medicare administration- Palmetto GBA.

Dr. Patel has special interest in health care policy and economics and also end of life care. He serves on the editorial board for a reputed national oncology journal “Oncology Practice Information “and writes commentaries on these topics in national journals.

He is also involved in healthcare economics and is working with major commercial payers to explore new alternative payment methods for oncology.