Kristen Schaefer, MD, HMDC, FAAHPM

Vice President, Associate Chief Medical Officer; Director of Fellow and Medical Resident Education

Dr. Kristen Schaefer is the Vice President, Associate Chief Medical Officer who oversees medical operations in the Greater Boston Area and Care Dimensions Palliative Care Program, and sees patients at the Care Dimensions Hospice House in Lincoln. She also oversees the education and training of medical students, residents and fellows on rotation at Care Dimensions, and supports outreach to professional health care organizations through educational activities and relationship building.

Prior to joining Care Dimensions, Dr. Schaefer was a Senior Physician in the Department of Psychosocial Oncology and Palliative Care at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) and a palliative care attending physician at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) in Boston 2008-2020. She served as Director of Medical Student Education for the DFCI Division of Adult Palliative Care from 2010 to 2020, and as the inaugural Medical Director of the BWH HeartPal Program from 2018 to 2020. While working as a consultant and attending physician on the DFCI/BWH intensive palliative care unit, she collaborated often with Care Dimensions nurses, physicians and clinical liaisons. Prior to specializing in Hospice and Palliative Medicine, Dr. Schaefer served as a primary care physician in San Francisco, the Navajo Nation, and Washington, DC.

Dr. Schaefer is a graduate of Harvard Medical School (HMS) where she has served as faculty since 2008. She is board certified as a hospice medical director and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine.