An anonymous donor has made a seven-year commitment to Emory’s School of Medicine to establish the Roxann Arnold Professorship in Palliative Medicine. 

This professorship will be awarded to Tammie E. Quest, who was appointed as director of Emory’s Palliative Care Center in 2011 and has been an associate professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine since 1998. The gift honors Roxann Arnold, director of patient financial services for Emory Healthcare, and her more than 37 years of dedicated service. 

Quest is board certified in emergency medicine and hospice and palliative medicine. Her academic research interests include cancer symptom evaluation/outcomes in the emergency department as well as palliative delivery care across the continuum of care. Quest is an accomplished teacher of medical students, resident trainees, and faculty and a national leader in palliative care’s integration into emergency medicine. She is the principal of the Education in Palliative and End-of-Life Care—Emergency Medicine (EPEC-EM) initiative funded by the National Cancer Institute to create a national palliative medicine curriculum for emergency clinicians. Quest also directs the Center to Advance Palliative Care’s Improving Palliative Care in Emergency Medicine (IPAL-EM) project funded by the Olive Branch Foundation.

Palliative care is specialized medical care for people with serious illnesses. This type of care focuses on providing patients with relief from the symptoms, pain, and stress of a serious illness—whatever the diagnosis— with the goal of improving quality of life for both the patient and the family through physical, spiritual and psychological support. Palliative care is appropriate at any age and at any stage of a serious illness and can be provided together with any treatment plan.

“Palliative care is the total, holistic support that we give to patients, families, and care givers who are experiencing serious illness. We focus on living every day to its fullest no matter the circumstances,” Quest says. “I am honored to be named the Roxann Arnold Professor, and I am humbled by the generosity that will enhance the work Emory does in palliative care to benefit our patients and their loved ones.”