Raya E. Kheirbek, MD, MPH

A geriatrician, palliative medicine physician, and physician-writer.

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About

Raya Elfadel Kheirbek is a geriatrician, palliative medicine physician, physician-writer, and professor of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, where she is the inaugural chief of the Division of Gerontology, Geriatrics, and Palliative Medicine and program director of the Geriatric Medicine Fellowship. She is also affiliated with the University of Maryland Medical Center.

Her clinical and scholarly work focuses on serious illness, aging, communication and decision making, and person-centered models of care. Her research has been supported by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the University of Maryland Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, and her peer-reviewed publications are indexed on Web of Science.

As a physician-writer, Dr. Kheirbek writes at the intersection of medicine and the human experience, exploring aging, serious illness, caregiving, grief, and the end of life. Her work brings the voices of patients and families into conversations about what medicine can do, what it should do, and what matters most. She shares updates on LinkedIn and X.

Latest articles

Conditions and diseases

Medicare home care coverage pays for rehab, not an aide

Raya E. Kheirbek, MD, MPH

September 21, 2026Sep 21, 2026

American medicine has a peculiar definition of generosity. We will spend enormous sums treating a seriously ill older person: an ambulance, an emergency-room visit, scans, intravenous medications, surgery, and days in hospital. We may then pay to send a profoundly…

But suppose what that patient really needs is someone to help her out of bed, make breakfast, and keep her safe at home. …

Conditions and diseases

Palliative care in the ICU: what the metrics never count

Raya E. Kheirbek, MD, MPH

September 14, 2026Sep 14, 2026

"I called palliative care because I needed to free up the bed. Otherwise, I could have taken care of this dying patient myself." The ICU attending said it standing at the nurses' station, thumbing through a chart on a rolling…

“I called palliative care because I needed to free up the bed. Otherwise, I could have taken care of this dying patient myself.”

The ICU attending said it standing at the nurses’ station, thumbing through a chart on a rolling laptop cart, already moving toward the next name on his list before I could answer. Down the hall, monitors kept their steady rhythm. Somewhere behind him, a family was gathered around …

Physician voices

The burden of choice: Navigating the complexities of surrogate decision-making in medicine

Raya E. Kheirbek, MD, MPH

March 8, 2024Mar 8, 2024

"I could have saved him," the intensivist murmured, reflecting on a recent patient's death. His silhouette was framed against the fading evening light that spilled into the ICU. His words, heavy with regret and resignation, floated over the hum of…

“I could have saved him,” the intensivist murmured, reflecting on a recent patient’s death. His silhouette was framed against the fading evening light that spilled into the ICU. His words, heavy with regret and resignation, floated over the hum of life-sustaining machines, recounting the tale of Caleb Stratford.

When Caleb Stratford (not real name), 61, was rushed to the hospital last June, the shock trauma team at the University of Maryland …

Physician voices

Breaking free from restrictive covenants to combat burnout

Raya E. Kheirbek, MD, MPH

June 5, 2023Jun 5, 2023

Hospitals have the duty to ensure that their physicians are professionally content, both physically and mentally to provide the highest quality of care. But they also have a responsibility to prevent physicians from leaving work for competing institutions. The paradox between the use of restrictive covenants in physicians’ contracts and hospitals’ concerns about physician wellness arises from a tension between two important objectives.

Restrictive covenants, which are clauses in contracts that …