Skip to content
Nicki Rao, MD

Board certified physician in Hospice & Palliative Medicine

Palliative care is extra support through the hardest parts of life - and those conversations should start long before we need them.

I’m a palliative care physician in San Diego. I’ve built palliative care services from the ground up and taught residents and medical students how to deliver news that changes a life. I write, speak, and post on social media to help people understand what palliative care really is - long before anyone tells them it’s time.

Start with Palliative Care 101More about me
Follow
Nicki Rao outdoors in a white coat over navy scrubs, smiling toward the camera, palm trees and blue sky behind her.

What you’ll find here

  • Learn the basics

    What palliative care is, the myths that keep people from it, and how to ask for it.

    Palliative Care 101

  • Read the writing

    Book chapters, journal articles, and columns on serious illness, symptom management, and hard conversations.

    Works

  • Book a talk

    Grand rounds, CME, conferences, student programs, and community events - for clinicians and for families.

    Speaking
A San Diego beach at sunset, people at the water's edge and a blue umbrella on the sand, the sky fading from gold to blue.