The partnership between City of Hope and The Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation will support City of Hope’s efforts to expand patient access to its evidence-based supportive care medicine offerings across its cancer care system and to advocate for establishing supportive care as a standard best practice for cancer care in the United States.
Our goal is to expand access to our evidence-based supportive care offerings and advocate for a national standard of practice for cancer care.
Patients with a serious illness often face complex challenges involving physical, spiritual and emotional stress. Our Supportive and Integrative Medicine team can help manage discomfort with a wide array of available services.
The stress and anxiety that can accompany diagnosis and treatment of cancer can weigh on a patient and their loved ones. Our Supportive Care staff members are highly trained experts, able to help you and your family with emotional, social and spiritual support.
Conveniently located on the Duarte campus, the Biller Patient and Family Resource Center integrates all support services under one umbrella.
The stress and anxiety that can accompany diagnosis and treatment of cancer can weigh on a patient and their loved ones. Our Supportive Care staff members are highly trained experts, able to help you and your family with emotional, social and spiritual support.
Our Older Adults’ Specialized Interdisciplinary Services Program (OASIS) team knows that as older adults receive cancer care, whether it is before, during or after treatment, they may struggle with the effects of cancer and its treatment in unique ways.
Beyond providing a comprehensive range of supportive care services, the Department of Supportive Care Medicine also engages in research and training to continually improve and integrate supportive care at City of Hope and other health institutions nationwide.
Our Vision is to transform the health care system by maximizing compassionate expertise one professional at a time.
Anesthesiologist Andrew T. Leitner, M.D., is chair of the Department of Supportive Care Medicine and the Arthur M. Coppola Family Chair in Supportive Care Medicine.
Natalie Schnaitmann is the Executive Director of the Department of Supportive Care Medicine where she will continue in the leadership and development of the internationally-renowned Department and work to further the efforts of elevating supportive medicine in cancer care for patients nationally.
William Dale, M.D., Ph.D., F.A.S.C.O., is the Vice Chair of Academic Affairs for the Department of Supportive Care Medicine.
Richard T. Lee, M.D., is the medical director of the Integrative Medicine Program in the Department of Supportive Care Medicine at City of Hope.
Annette Mercurio, is director of programs in the Department of Supportive Care Medicine at City of Hope in Duarte, California. She directs City of Hope’s Patient Navigation Program, biopsychosocial screening and Child Life, as well as patient and family education.
As director of Health Care Services & Advance Care Planning in the Department of Supportive Care Medicine, she leads the development and integration of more than 300 volunteers on the Duarte, California, campus and within the community practice sites.
Sharon Baik, Ph.D., is an assistant professor, Division of Psychology, Department of Supportive Care Medicine. Her research interests focus on improving the health-related quality of life of cancer survivors, with a particular emphasis on medically underserved populations.
Heather Bitar, D.O., is an assistant clinical professor and a palliative medicine physician in the Department of Supportive Care Medicine at City of Hope.
Sorin Buga, M.D., is a clinical professor in the Department of Supportive Care Medicine.
Jessica Cheng, M.D., is among the nation’s few, and Orange County’s only, fellowship-trained experts in cancer rehabilitation medicine. This is a subspecialty of physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R) also known as physiatry.
