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Dio Kavalieratos, PhD

Emory University

Dio Kavalieratos, PhD FAAHPM is the Director of the Division of Palliative Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine. The first non-physician to lead a division of palliative medicine in the United States, he also serves as the Director of Research for the Emory Palliative Care Center, the clinical counterpart to the academic Division he directs. At Emory, Dr. Kavalieratos has built a thriving, multidisciplinary research program focused on advancing serious illness care through innovation, collaboration, and mentorship. Since joining Emory in 2020, he has grown the Division’s research faculty from zero to seven funded investigators, launched the Emory Serious Illness Innovation Incubator to cultivate clinician–researcher partnerships, and secured multiple grants and gifts of more than >$1M to expand Emory’s capacity as a national hub for palliative care science and training.
Dr. Kavalieratos is a health services researcher whose program investigates and intervenes upon the sources of suffering that people living with serious illness and their families experience, the healthcare decisions they make, and the care that they ultimately receive (or do not). His own >$10M portfolio of science spans clinical trials, symptom science, mixed-methods research, informatics, and social determinants of health, with studies funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and other leading organizations. Largely, his work involves the development and testing of models of palliative care delivery and integration, as well as cutting-edge transdisciplinary investigations of whole-person symptom burden and experience. With more than 120 publications, his work appears in leading journals such as JAMA, BMJ, and the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. His portfolio of international leadership in serious illness includes co-directing two clinical practice guidelines committees for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and serving for four years as Scientific Chair for the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine annual assembly.
A dedicated mentor, Dr. Kavalieratos guides trainees and early-career faculty across disciplines and backgrounds in securing competitive career development awards and launching independent research careers. He was named a 2022 Sojourn Scholar by the Cambia Health Foundation for his commitment to supporting the next generation of palliative care scientists and continues to lead efforts to expand research training and mentoring infrastructure at Emory and beyond. He completed advanced coursework in leadership coaching from the Goizueta Business School and provides career coaching services primarily to early- and mid-career academics.
Dr. Kavalieratos earned his PhD in Health Policy and Management from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Health Services Research at the University of Pittsburgh. He is the recipient of numerous honors, including the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine’s Early Career Investigator Award as well as awards for his mentoring. He serves on the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine and is a former Associate Editor of the Journal of Palliative Medicine, championing the role of science in shaping the future of palliative care.

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