DR. JESSICA ZITTER
Jessica Zitter is a national advocate for improving the way we die in America. Throughout her twenty-five years as an ICU physician, she has had a front-row seat to the public health crisis of over-mechanized dying. Her mission is to unveil this hidden crisis through personal narrative and the stories of real patients— and to envision a new way forward.
Whether caring for patients, making films, writing, or speaking on the national stage, her message is clear: We must bring more honesty, compassion, and justice to the care of patients with serious and end-stage illness. In that way, we will achieve the best life possible for all.
Physician
Dr. Jessica Zitter is Harvard and UCSF-trained to practice the seemingly disparate medical specialties of Critical Care and Palliative Care medicine. This vantage point has provided her a unique perspective on how we care for patients with serious and end-stage illness. She works at the public hospital in Oakland, California.
Writer
Dr. Zitter’s first book, Extreme Measures: Finding A Better Path to the End of Life, offers an insider’s view of intensive care in America and its impact on how we die. Her essays and articles have appeared in the New York Times, The Atlantic, Time Magazine, and the Journal of the American Medical Association, among others.
Filmmaker
Dr. Zitter’s work is featured in the Oscar and Emmy-nominated short documentary Extremis, available on Netflix. She produced and directed the award-winning, 2020 short documentary Caregiver: A Love Story. She is at work on her third film, The Chaplain of Oakland, which explores the devastating problem of racial healthcare inequities at the end of life.
Speaker
Dr. Zitter is a sought-after speaker, presenting at hundreds of events across the country for a variety of audiences including national associations, healthcare professionals, family caregivers, and other groups. She has been a guest on national radio and television shows, including CBS Sunday Morning, NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross, The Doctors, Dr. Oz, and KQED’s California Report Magazine Podcast.
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“I’m an accidental activist. I didn’t set out to change the culture of medicine, my chosen and beloved profession. I just found I had no choice but to try.”