McMaster palliative care physician, researcher wins prestigious award

Anne Boyle is the recipient of the 2023-2024 Elizabeth J. Latimer Prize in Palliative Care, a prestigious award given to exceptional advocates leading and innovating palliative and end-of-life care.

Boyle, an associate clinical professor for the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University, has been a committed and tireless champion, with contributions to policy and health-system development at a national and local level, along with maintaining the highest standards of care in her clinical work.

“This award means the world to me,” says Boyle, who had been mentored and encouraged by Latimer to enter palliative care. “Receiving the news that I had been honoured as this year’s recipient of the Latimer Prize moved me to tears.”

Named in honour of Elizabeth J. Latimer, a McMaster University professor and palliative care physician, educator and pioneer, the prize recognizes a palliative care clinician, teacher, researcher or administrator who best represents the spirit of Dr. Latimer through a record of advancing palliative care.

“I had the honour of initially working with Liz as a family physician providing palliative care in the home for patients in my family practice,” says Boyle, a Hamilton resident. “One day, Liz sat me down and said, ‘you are meant to do this work.’ Her guidance, insights and expertise made me the physician I am today.”

Boyle has held numerous leadership roles with national and local influence, one being as member of the Board of Directors and President of the Canadian Society of Palliative Care Physicians. There, she helped shape the development of several policies and analyses, such as a new staffing model for an integrated specialist team approach to palliative care and the cost-saving benefits of providing palliative care services across Canada.

“One of the biggest issues facing palliative care today is Canada’s aging demographic and the health and human resource implications of this,” says Boyle. Nearly one in five in Canada are 65 or older, according to the latest from Statistics Canada. “Palliative care resources need to be enhanced so that we can provide the right care, to the right patients, in the right location, at the right time. Compassionate whole-person care needs to be the goal for all health-care practitioners, and to achieve this, both public and health-care practitioner education is needed.”

Locally, she has held multiple leadership roles within the Division of Palliative Care, developing comprehensive curricula for both undergraduate and postgraduate learners. She currently acts as program director for the Enhanced Skills palliative care residency program.

Boyle is also a co-investigator for the 3 Wishes Project, a model of care for intensive care units, which celebrates life and offers support to families by fulfilling three wishes for a patient in end-of-life care. This model of care — which has been replicated now by other ICUs across the country — focuses on humanizing patients and ease grieving for families.

“A patient I once cared for had a difficult life story, significant symptoms and was incarcerated,” says Boyle. “One day he took my hand, looked me in the eye and said ‘Thank you. You made me feel human again.’ Palliative care makes such a difference to patients and families,” says Boyle.

The 3 Wishes Project has also produced a significant amount of research, publishing nearly two dozen research papers in its ten-year history.

Boyle, as author and editor for “Palliative Medicine: A Case-Based Manual,” a preeminent reference text used by learners and health-care professional across Canada and beyond, has helped usher in the next generation of palliative care physicians and educated a broader group of health-care professionals on the palliative care approach.

The award was presented during the annual Elizabeth J. Latimer Lecture in Palliative Care on Oct. 19, hosted by the McMaster Department of Family Medicine’s Division of Palliative Care.