Nathan Cherny

Biography

Nathan Cherny is married (to Nancy) with four children (Gil, Eitan, Noa and Calanit). He lives in the town of Maccabim, in central Israel.
Education
He studied medicine at Monash University Medical School where he graduated in 1983 with high distinction.

Advanced Training
He completed his Fellowship of the Royal Australian College of Physicians attaining specialist recognition in both Oncology and Palliative Medicine. During that time he established the undergraduate training program in palliative care at Monash University. 1991-1994 he completed a fellowship in Cancer Pain and Palliative Medicine at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, where he worked with Kathleen Foley and Russell Portenoy.

Appointments
In 1994 Dr Cherny joined with Prof Raphael Catane to establish the Oncology and Palliative Medicine Unit at the Shaare Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem. The model and standards for integrated oncology and palliative care developed by Prof Cherny and Prof Catane have since served as the basis for the designation criteria for the ESMO Designated Center program in Integrated Oncology and Palliative Care. He continues to head the Multidisciplinary Cancer Pain and Palliative Medicine Service at Shaare Zedek Medical Center, and, in addition, he maintains an active practice in general oncology.

In 2008-9 he was visiting scholar to the Dept of Bioethics at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda Maryland. Since 2011 he also chairs the board of the NPO B'Ruach (By Spirit) for the promotion of professional chaplaincy in Israel.

2002-2010: Chair of the Palliative Care Working group for the European Society of Medical Oncology

2019-: Chair of the European Society of Medical Oncology Magnitude of Clinical Benefit Scale working group

2020-: Member of the ESMO Guidelines steering committee

International Work
Since 1997 he has served on the research steering committee of the European Association of Palliative Care. In 1999 he helped established the European Society of Medical Oncology Palliative Care Working Group.

He led the ESMO initiative to develop policies on the role of the oncologist in palliative care, oncology training for medical oncologists and minimal standards for palliative care in cancer centers. 2008-2014 he served as the chairman or the ESMO Palliative Care Working Group. During that time he led the working group policy and research initiatives including:
• The ESMO policy statements on Palliative care (2003)
• The designated center program for the integration of oncology and palliative care (2003)
• The Palliative Care Curriculum Guidelines for Medical Oncology Trainees (2003)
• The survey of the Oncologists Role on Palliative Care In Oncology in Europe (2003)
• The survey of the Communication and Disclosure Practices of Oncologists in Europe (2009)
• The ESMO Guide for Patients with Advanced Cancer (2010)
• The European and subsequently the global studies of the availability and accessibility of opioids for the management of cancer pain (2009, 2012)
• The European and subsequently the global studies evaluating the availability and accessibility and out of pocket cost of anti cancer medications. (2013, 2105)

He is the current chair of the ESMO magnitude of clinical benefit scale working group.
Prof Cherny has been an active member of the Middle East Cancer Consortium and works closely with Palestinian oncology colleagues. He is a believer that health care provision can bring peoples together and build bridges of understanding, humanity and shared purpose and that it can bring people closer to peaceful and respectful coexistence.

Research, Publications and Education
Prof Cherny has had diverse research interests including opioid responsiveness of neuropathic pain, opioid rotation, opioid side effects and their management, cancer pain syndromes, suffering, palliative sedation, communication issues in oncology and palliative care, bioethics and public health.

He is the senior editor of the Oxford Textbook of Palliative Medicine

Awards and appointments
2007: appointed to the Norman Levan Chair of Humanistic Medicine at Shaare Zedek Medical Center and in 2008 was promoted to Associate Professor in Medicine in the Ben Gurion University of the Negev.

2015: ESMO (European Society of Medical Oncology) Award for his contributions to the development of oncology in Europe

2016: Danielli award for humanistic care in oncology

2016: EAPC/EJPC (European Association of Palliative Care/ European Journal of Palliative Care) Palliative Care Policy Development Award

2017 Monash University Doctor of Laws Honoris Causa