Susan Alisanski, MD
Specialties
Primary Office
Alternate Location
About Me
I am a pediatric palliative care physician at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital. I provide inpatient consultation with the interdisciplinary Pediatric Palliative Care Team for children and their families who face serious and potentially life-threatening diseases or illness.
My goal with the PPCT team is to help relieve suffering and enhance quality of life for patients and families with excellent pain and symptom management, psychosocial and emotional support, spiritual care, complementary therapies, and identification of community resources available to families. Consultative services can include goals of care counseling and coordination of communication between families and multiple caregivers.
In addition to my work at Joe DiMaggio, I have an outpatient Hollywood, Florida, office for assessment and treatment of chronic pain in children. I am also a member of the outpatient Joe DiMaggio Children’s Complex Chronic Care Clinic Team, offering transition of care visits from hospital to home for medically complex children with a goal of assisting these children and families to remain at home as much as possible.
I am a member of Memorial Healthcare System’s Bioethics Committee and serve as an instructor in medical education for a pediatric palliative elective for local Florida medical school students.
I maintain my international pediatric palliative care community relationships after spending a year working in Botswana, Africa, for Baylor Texas Children’s Global Health Corps Program in pediatric hematology-oncology and pediatric palliative care prior to joining Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in 2015.
Related Medical Services
Meet Dr. Alisanski
Education
- Suny Upstate Medical University, 2000
- Akron Children's Medical Center, 2003, Pediatrics
- Akron Children's Medical Center, 2004, Pediatric Hospice and Palliative Medicine
- Vanderbilt University Hospital, 2007, Pediatric Oncology and Hematology
American Board of Pediatrics-Pediatrics
Hospital Affiliation
Achievements
Publications
Awards
- Presidential Scholar and Alden Scholar, Allegheny College
- Phi Beta Kappa
- James G. Kramer Award for Outstanding Senior Pediatric Resident Research
Professional Organizations
- American Academy of Pediatrics
- International Children’s Palliative Care Network
Research
- Church C, Amanullah S, and Alisanski S. The Social, Behavioral, and Academic Experiences of Forty Children with Asperger’s Syndrome. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities. Spring 2000, Vol. 15, No.2, 12-20
- “Direct Assessment of Parent-Child Communication About Cancer,” MSCI thesis, Vanderbilt University, accepted May 2007. Mentors: Bruce Compas, PhD and James Whitlock, MD
- Purow B, Alisanski S, Putman P, and Ruderman M. Spirituality and Pediatric Cancer. Southern Medical Journal, 2011 April; 104(4):299-302
- Legallo RD, Stelow EB, Sukov WR, Duska LR, Alisanski SB, Folpe AL. Melanotic xp11.2 neoplasm of the ovary: report of a unique case. Am J Surg Pathol, 2012 Sep; 36(9):1410-4
- Phillips G, Alisanski SB, Pranzantelli M, Clardy SL, Lennon VA, McKeon A. Purkinje cell cytoplasmic antibody-type I (anti-Yo) autoimmunity in a child with Down syndrome. JAMA Neurology. 2014 Mar; 71(3):347-9
Presentations
- April 2006 — “Pain and Symptom Management,” Initiative for Pediatric Palliative Care (IPPC) Regional Retreat, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
- Nov 2006 — “The Art of Medicine: Communicating with the Patient and Family,” Grand Rounds, Department of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital
- April 2008 — “The Pediatric Cancer Survivor,” 28th Annual McLemore Birdsong Pediatric Conference, Hot Springs, Virginia
- May 2008 — “Late Effects of Pediatric Cancer Therapy,” Grand Rounds, Department of Pediatrics, University of Virginia Health System
- May 2010 — “Liberia Medical Mission,” Grand Rounds, Department of Pediatrics, University of Virginia Health System
- Nov 2010 — “Late Effects of Childhood Cancer Therapies,” Grand Rounds, Department of Pediatrics, Winchester Medical Center, Winchester, VA
- Nov 2014 — “Children’s Palliative Care in Botswana,” Botswana Paediatric Association annual meeting, Gaborone, Botswana
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