{"id":22799,"date":"2025-04-07T11:03:11","date_gmt":"2025-04-07T15:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/?p=22799"},"modified":"2025-04-07T11:03:11","modified_gmt":"2025-04-07T15:03:11","slug":"angelo-e-volandes-md-mph-appointed-second-anna-gundlach-huber-professor-in-medicine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/2025\/angelo-e-volandes-md-mph-appointed-second-anna-gundlach-huber-professor-in-medicine\/","title":{"rendered":"Angelo E. Volandes, MD, MPH, Appointed Second Anna Gundlach Huber Professor in Medicine"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth has named Angelo E. Volandes, MD, MPH, as the second Anna Gundlach Huber Professor in Medicine. Volandes, a professor of medicine at Geisel, clinician-investigator, and nationally recognized expert in patient-centered decision-making at Dartmouth Health, will serve a four-year term.<\/p>\n

\"Angelo<\/a>
Angelo E. Volandes, MD, MPH<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In addition to this appointment, Volandes serves as vice chair of research for the Department of Medicine at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC). His work focuses on improving conversations around serious illness, aging, and end-of-life care\u2014an area he believes is critical for both patients and healthcare systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat drew me here is the uniquely collaborative culture,\u201d Volandes says. \u201cYou don\u2019t see the silos that can dominate large medical centers. I can just walk down the hall to talk to colleagues, and that makes all the difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

Standardizing Serious Illness Conversations<\/strong><\/h3>\n

For years, Volandes has worked to transform how physicians communicate with patients facing serious illnesses. Early in his career, he noticed stark inconsistencies in how physicians approached these discussions. \u201cI went to different ICUs across the country and asked attendings how they handled end-of-life conversations and shared decision-making,\u201d he recalls. \u201cThe variation wasn\u2019t by geography\u2014it was by individual physician. That\u2019s when I realized we needed a standardized decision aid to ensure every patient received clear, consistent guidance.\u201d<\/p>\n

To solve that problem, he created short video decision-aids to help patients and families navigate complex medical choices. These tools are now used widely to support more informed, equitable decision-making. Since arriving at Dartmouth in late 2024, he has already submitted three major research grants to expand this work.<\/p>\n

Elevating Rural Healthcare and Addressing Inequities<\/strong><\/h3>\n

A major priority for Volandes is to expand his previous work from urban populations to rural communities. \u201cRural health is where we see some of the largest inequities,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen we talk about healthcare disparities, the focus is usually on urban challenges, but life expectancy has plummeted in rural America. We rarely talk about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dartmouth\u2019s rural setting makes it an ideal place to address these issues. \u201cDartmouth Health is the most rural academic health system in America,\u201d Volandes notes. \u201cThat\u2019s what makes this place great. We\u2019re serving patients in New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine, often in remote areas, so we have to think innovatively about delivering care, whether it\u2019s through telehealth, mobile units, or bringing care directly into people\u2019s homes. That\u2019s the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond his own research, Volandes is committed to fostering interdisciplinary collaboration at DHMC. \u201cAlready, I\u2019m working with orthopaedics, anesthesiology, and other departments,\u201d he says. \u201cTo innovate together is something that is quite refreshing. In many large institutions, silos make it difficult, but here, collaboration happens organically.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Huber Legacy: Supporting Faculty Excellence<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Huber professorships, established through the generosity of long-time supporters Robert and Gertrude Mertens, and Marion Huber, have funded pioneering Geisel faculty for decades. Originally a single chair, the Anna Gundlach Huber Professorship was restructured in 2023 to create two distinct positions, in addition to the original Joseph M. Huber chair. Current holders include Nate Goldstein, MD, the Joseph M. Huber Professor of Medicine and Chair of the Department of Medicine at Dartmouth Health and the Geisel School of Medicine, and Richard Powell, MD, the Anna Gundlach Huber Professor and Director of the Dartmouth Health Heart and Vascular Center.<\/p>\n

Volandes joins Powell as the second Anna Gundlach Huber Professor and credits his endowed professorship with allowing him to tackle urgent problems, including serious illness communication, rural health disparities and interspecialty collaboration. \u201cIt\u2019s only because I have an endowed chair that I\u2019m able to take these solutions to scale,\u201d Volandes says.<\/p>\n

A healthier future, as Volandes sees it, relies on those in medicine and healthcare listening to their patients. \u201cWhat people need most isn\u2019t just the next new technology,\u201d he says. \u201cThey need a guide to help navigate the dark forest in which they will undoubtedly find themselves. As AI and digital tools become more integrated into healthcare, we have to focus on building trust and ensuring that these innovations truly serve patients and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n

Written by Jeremy Martin<\/em>
\nJeremy Martin is an Advancement Writer in the Office of Medical and Healthcare Advancement at the Geisel School of Medicine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth has named Angelo E. Volandes, MD, MPH, as the second Anna Gundlach Huber Professor in Medicine. Volandes, a professor of medicine at Geisel, clinician-investigator, and nationally recognized expert in patient-centered decision-making at Dartmouth Health, will serve a four-year term.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":22800,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[1308,1209],"class_list":["post-22799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-angelo-volandes","tag-anna-gundlach-huber-professor","author-15"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/04\/AngeloVolandes_featured.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4r3h1-5VJ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22799"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22805,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22799\/revisions\/22805"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}