Not long ago, one of Dr. Matthew Ellman’s long-term patients became very ill with progressive liver disease. The patient knew he was dying, but he couldn’t bring himself to talk to his children about it. With Dr. Ellman’s encouragement, he discussed his fears one day in his hospital room.
“He told me he was afraid. I sat with him and held his hand,” Dr. Ellman recalls. “I asked if he’d like a priest to visit, if this would give him comfort, which it did, and I talked with his daughter and held her and we were able to bring him some peace. It was very sad, but also so gratifying to be of service at a time that matters. And it made a difference to his family members after he was gone.”
Being of service to patients, and building deep and trusting relationships with them, is what drives Dr. Ellman. He has been consistently recognized for his exceptional dedication to patient care and has been nominated for the David J. Leffell Prize for Clinical Excellence for each of the past seven years. This year, he was the recipient of the prize, which was awarded by Dean Robert Alpern in a June 26 ceremony.
“Matthew is an exemplary physician, totally committed to being the best doctor he can be and working with a thoughtful and unflappable demeanor that is inspirational to colleagues and learners,” wrote Patrick O’Connor, MD, in a letter nominating Dr. Ellman for the Leffell Prize. Dr. O’Connor is section chief, general internal medicine.
The Leffell Prize, established by Dr. David J. Leffell and his wife, Cindy, is awarded each year to “an individual who best demonstrates the highest level of clinical expertise, commitment to teaching and the highest standards of care and compassion for patients.” This year there were 14 nominations for the prestigious prize.
Dr. Ellman is director of Yale Internal Medicine Associates and an associate professor of medicine. He earned his MD from Harvard Medical School and did his internship and residency in primary care at New York University–Bellevue Hospital Medical Center, and he also was a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at Yale.
Dr. Ellman is passionate about primary care medicine, which, he says, gives him “the gift and honor of knowing people over a lifetime, and the ability to partner with them to make life as good as it can be and to help those nearing the end of their life to make that transition.
“What really sustains me and drives me is to have the privilege of serving people in their times of need,” Dr. Ellman says. “Primary care gives me the opportunity to use my mind in concert with my heart.”
Dr. Ellman is quick to point out that the kind of care he provides would not be possible without a dedicated team of nurses, medical assistants and support staff—many of whom came to the Leffell Prize award ceremony to congratulate him as he was being honored.
Teaching End-of-Life Care
In addition to his work as a clinician, Dr. Ellman is a scholar and educator in the area of palliative and end-of-life care. He developed and implemented an innovative curriculum in which Yale School of Medicine students gain knowledge, experience and skills in end-of-life and palliative care throughout their four years of medical school. Dr. Ellman has published a number of articles about end-of-life and palliative care education for medical students and health care professionals.
Primary care gives me the opportunity to use my mind in concert with my heart.
Matthew S. Ellman, MD
Dr. Ellman became interested in end-of-life care while completing his residency at Bellevue Hospital in New York City in the late 1980s. “Bellevue was the epicenter of the AIDS epidemic,” Dr. Ellman says, noting that at the time there was no treatment for AIDS.
“I was a newly minted doctor dealing with an epidemic of young people dying from an untreatable disease,” he says. Dr. Ellman realized that all young doctors should be taught the skills needed to work with terminally ill patients.
“I saw as I had patients near the end of life that my involvement in their care really made a huge difference,” he says. “And in my own experiences with my wife’s parents, I realized first-hand the critical importance of involving all those who care for patients at the end of life—medical physicians, surgeons, nurses, chaplains, social workers—in collaborative education.”
His work has made a difference in the lives of countless patients and their families, as evidenced by the thanks Dr. Ellman receives, sometimes long after a patient has passed away. In fact, several families have made named gifts to the Yale School of Medicine to show their appreciation for the end-of-life care that Dr. Ellman provided to their loved ones.
When he is not treating patients, teaching or doing research, Dr. Ellman enjoys spending time with his family and engaging in such hobbies as painting, hot yoga, kayaking and hiking. He lives in Madison with his wife, Laurie Ruderfer, and their two dogs and a cat. They have two children: Isaac Ellman, 27, who is preparing to go to law school, and Hannah Ellman, 24, who teaches history in a public charter school in New York City.