Inpatient Nurse Practitioner Lead, Palliative Care
Massachusetts General Hospital
Alison Rhodes Kavanaugh, MSN, ACNP-BC, ACHPN is an inpatient palliative care nurse practitioner and clinical leader in the Division of Palliative Care and Geriatric Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, where she has practiced since 2014. She also serves as Inpatient Nurse Practitioner Lead for the division and is adjunct faculty at the MGH Institute of Health Professions and interprofessional faculty with the Harvard Medical School Center for Palliative Care.
Ms. Kavanaugh’s clinical expertise centers on the care of patients with serious illness, with a particular focus on individuals with hematologic malignancies and those undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation or cellular therapies. She has extensive experience in complex symptom management, serious illness communication, and interdisciplinary care delivery in high-acuity inpatient settings.
She is nationally recognized for her role in advancing the evidence base for integrated palliative care in hematology and oncology. Ms. Kavanaugh has served as a lead clinician, interventionist, and co-investigator on multiple multi-site randomized clinical trials funded by the National Cancer Institute, PCORI, ASCO, ASTCT, and other organizations. Her work has contributed to numerous peer-reviewed publications in high-impact journals including JAMA, JAMA Oncology, Blood Advances, Cancer, and Journal of Clinical Oncology.
In addition to her research and clinical work, Ms. Kavanaugh has led several care delivery innovations at MGH, including co-developing the Care Transitions Program, which embeds palliative care across the emergency department, inpatient services, and a dedicated Supportive Care Unit. This work was recognized with the 2024 Mass General Brigham Pillars of Excellence Award for Advancing Innovation & Progress.
A dedicated educator and mentor, she has trained and supervised palliative care fellows, nurse practitioner students, residents, and nurses for more than a decade and is deeply committed to developing the next generation of palliative care clinicians.
Palliative Care Intervention to Improve End-of-Life Care Communication in AML and MDS
Saturday, March 7, 2026
10:40am - 11:00am PST
Disclosure(s): No financial relationships to disclose