Andrew Thurston, MD

Dr. Thurston is the Medical Director of the Supportive and Palliative Care service at UPMC Mercy. He is board certified in internal medicine as well as hospice and palliative medicine, with clinical interests spanning both geriatrics and palliative care. Clinical responsibilities include consulting on the inpatient palliative care service at Mercy and outpatient palliative care services in the Mercy Supportive and Palliative Care Clinic embedded within the Oncology Department.

Dr. Thurston's educational interests include empathetic communication skills training using standardized patients. He is a trained facilitator for simulated communication skills workshops and is also helping to facilitate empathetic communication skills training for obstetrical anesthesiology residents. Interests also include the integration of medical humanities into the hospital setting. He frequently leads Reflective Reading exercises that use poetry/art/photography/short fiction as a tool for reflecting on various issues in the medical field and has had poetry and opinion pieces published in various online forums, as well as both JAMA and the Annals of Internal Medicine.