Palliative Medicine

Honoring and supporting the lived experience.

Improving overall quality of life for people living with life-limiting illness, and their caregivers.

Serious illness affects every aspect of a person’s life—not just physical. Maine Center for Palliative Medicine goes beyond expert medical care for pain and symptom management to include emotional, spiritual and social advocacy, guidance, and support.

How can MCPM help?

Maine Center for Palliative Medicine (MCPM) works to reframe the language of illness and determine goals for care based on what matters most to you and your family. We’re here to support and guide you and your loved ones in navigating the complex dynamics of serious illness.

Through partnerships with patients, families, caregivers and healthcare providers, we honor your lived experience.

What is Palliative Care?

Palliative care is specialized medical care focused on improving quality of life for people living with serious illness, and their loved ones. Expert medical care is combined with emotional, spiritual, and social advocacy and support to provide whole-person care based on what matters most to an individual and their family.

Who Can Receive Palliative Care?

There is no age limit for palliative care. It can be provided to anyone at any stage of a serious illness.

Palliative care can be provided along with curative treatment or for individuals with a terminal diagnosis.

Clinical Staff

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Providers

Dr. Brown earned his undergraduate degree in biological sciences with a minor in psychology from Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA. He went on to earn his degree as a Doctor of Medicine at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, CT. Dr. Brown then completed a residency in internal medicine at Yale-New Haven Medical Center; a residency in emergency medicine at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles; and served as chief resident in his family medicine residency at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. After years of clinical and leadership experience in prominent health care organizations, in June of 2019 Dr. Brown returned to his clinical roots and completed a Fellowship in Hospice and Palliative Medicine at Maine Medical Center and the VA Medical Center in Togus, ME.

Dr. Brown has held several staff physician positions over the years including time at Maine Medical Partners in Scarborough, ME; Cleveland Clinic in Ohio; Marymount Hospital in Ohio and at Family Medicine Associates in Worcester, MA. Dr. Brown has held key leadership positions over his career, including Chair of the Department of Family Medicine, Medical Director and Research Director at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, Residency Director at the University of Massachusetts in Worcester, MA, and Chief Medical Officer at Maine Health from 2008 to 2014. Prior to joining Andwell, Dr. Brown served as President and Chief Executive Officer at Bassett Healthcare Network, a six-hospital system based in upstate New York.

Shauna has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and attended Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine (formerly UMDNJ-SOM). She completed her Family Medicine Residency at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, ME and is Board Certified in Hospice and Palliative Medicine.

Following her three-year residency, Shauna joined the Central Maine Hospitalist Team and soon after the Inpatient Palliative Care Team. In 2014, she joined the Andwell organization as the Agency Medical Director. As the agency expanded its scope in palliative medicine, she transitioned to the Palliative Care Medical Director role in 2017.

Dr. DeSoi earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biochemistry from Mount Holyoke College, graduating magna cum laude. At Mount Holyoke College, she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi, awarded prizes in Chemistry, French, and English and was also both a Sarah Winston Scholar and Mary Lyon Scholar. In 1985, Dr. DeSoi earned her MD from the University of Rochester School of Medicine in Rochester, NY.]

She completed her Internship and Residency in the Combined Medicine and Pediatrics Program at the University of Chicago Hospitals and Clinics where she also served as Chief Resident and Instructor in Pediatrics. Dr. DeSoi also served as a Clinical Research Fellow, Section of Nephrology, at the University of Chicago from 1990 to 1991. Dr. DeSoi is Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, and Nephrology.

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Dr. Ross most recently served as Medical Director of Hospice and Palliative Medicine for the VA Maine Healthcare System where she oversaw their state-wide program. She is also the Site Director for the Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship at Togus, a shared program with Maine Medical Center.

Dr. Ross is a pioneering Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellow in Maine, having graduated as one of the first two fellows in the Maine Medical Center/VA Maine Fellowship program’s inaugural year of 2014. She completed her Internship and Residency in Internal Medicine at Maine Medical Center where she also served as Chief Resident. She is a graduate of the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine. Dr. Ross has experience in home hospice, general inpatient hospice, both outpatient and inpatient palliative care, and is Board Certified in Hospice and Palliative Medicine.

Dr. Katrina Sink has dedicated her career to compassionate end-of-life care. After early work as a nurse aide and paramedic, she discovered her passion for palliative medicine during medical school. She believes in whole-person, high-quality care that supports both patients and their families through serious illness.

Dr. Sink earned an associate degree in Applied Science from Davenport College, a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Calvin College, and her medical degree from Michigan State University College of Human Medicine in 2010. She completed her Family Medicine residency and Hospice and Palliative Medicine fellowship at Grand Rapids Medical Education Partners.

Board certified in both Family Medicine and Hospice and Palliative Medicine, Dr. Sink practiced in hospice and geriatrics in Grand Rapids before moving to Maine in 2017. After several years in primary care, she joined Andwell Health Partners and the Maine Center for Palliative Medicine in 2022.

Licensed Clinical Social Workers

  • Jennifer Reeder, LCSW
  • Heather Trickett, LCSW
  • Amy Manchester, LCSW
  • Wendy Youmans, LCSW
  • Will Liberty, LCSW