Hospice + Palliative Medicine Fellowship Program - Our People

Tamara Vesel, MD

Role: Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship Program Director; Chief of Division of Palliative Care; Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics, Tufts University School of Medicine

Biography: Tamara Vesel, MD is the Chief of the Division of Palliative Care in the Department of Medicine at Tufts Medical Center. Most recently, she has been working as the medical director of Pediatric Services as well as a senior Palliative Care physician at the Hospice of the North Shore and Greater Boston/Care Dimensions. In addition to establishing a premier pediatric hospice service for the organization, Dr. Vesel provided care for children and adults of all ages in the North Shore and Greater Boston area. She returned to Tufts Medical Center, where she completed a pediatric residency in 1993 and was an attending physician from 1996 to 2003.

Dr. Vesel has been on staff at Boston Children's Hospital and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, where she was the director of the interdisciplinary pediatric palliative care fellowship program. She has extensive work experience in teaching: she was the course director at Harvard Medical School for "Living with Life-Threatening Illness," which taught medical students the fundamental knowledge, attitudes, and skills for working with a dying patient and their families. She also cofounded a curriculum and was the pediatric co-director for PCEP and Harvard Center for Palliative Care, an interdisciplinary, international palliative care course, until 2012.

Dr. Vesel is a pediatric and adult palliative care physician passionate about clinical patient care and teaching interdisciplinary learners in various care settings. She enjoys traveling, learning about new cultures, hiking and meditating in nature. Dr. Vesel loves music and other arts, in particular playing the harp. Her favorite time spent is with friends and family.

Rachel Bernstein, MD

Role: Attending Physician, Inpatient Palliative Care Consult Service; Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine

Biography: Dr. Bernstein joined Tufts Medical Center and the Division of Palliative care in 2018 after completing her Hospice and Palliative Medicine fellowship with a focus on inpatient care and clinical work. Currently, Dr. Bernstein attends part-time on the inpatient palliative care consult service. In addition to inpatient care, her clinical interests include physician wellness and the medical humanities, including reflective writing and narrative medicine.

After completing medical school at SUNY Buffalo (her hometown - Go Bills!), she completed an Emergency Medicine residency at Case Western Reserve University/University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland, OH.

She started her attending career as an Emergency Medicine physician at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in Manhattan but soon gravitated towards Palliative Care. She completed her fellowship in Hospice and Palliative Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in 2018 before coming to Tufts to focus exclusively on Palliative Medicine.

She lives with her husband and young son and enjoys her bike commute to work, rain, snow or shine!

Elizabeth Figuracion, DO

Role: Attending Physician, Inpatient Palliative Care Consult Service; Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine

Biography: Dr. Figuracion is an active clinician on both the inpatient palliative care consult service and in the palliative care clinic. She loves teaching and oversees the weekly palliative care didactics for the team and residents rotating with the palliative care service.

After graduating from Binghamton University of the State University of New York, she earned her medical degree from the New York Institute of Technology, College of Osteopathic Medicine. Dr. Figuracion completed her residency in Family Medicine and her Hospice and Palliative Medicine fellowship at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center in Queens New York. She is a board-certified physician in family medicine, hospice and palliative medicine.

Dr. Figuracion is passionate about providing empathetic and equitable care for vulnerable populations, especially through difficult times. Outside the hospital, some of her favorite things include being a food enthusiast (sushi!), traveling, shopping, and streaming her favorite shows.

Jatin K. Dave, MD, MPH

Role: part-time attending physician on the inpatient palliative care consultation service; Assistant Professor, Tufts University School of Medicine

Biography: Besides attending part-time on the Tufts Inpatient Palliative Care, Dr. Dave is a member of the Medical-Scientific Committee of the New England Alzheimer's Association.  He is board-certified in Internal Medicine, Hospice and Palliative Care, Geriatric Medicine and Clinical Informatics. A few of the topics of special interest include the Management of Cardiac Devices in Hospice and Palliative Care, Payer-Provider Partnerships, and Care During the Last Hours.

Previously, at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Dr. Dave served as a primary care physician, consultant geriatrician, and director of education. While there, he received the Geriatric Academic Career Award and the Clinical Innovation Award. After training in internal medicine at the University of Illinois College of Medicine, Dr. Dave completed a general internal medicine fellowship at New York University. Dr. Dave then completed a fellowship in geriatric medicine at Harvard University. He also received a master's degree in public health from the Harvard School of Public Health and earned a bachelor's degree in medicine and in surgery at Gujarat University in Gujarat, India.

Jatin enjoys traveling, spending time with his family and collecting stamps!

Marc-David Munk, MD, MPH, MHCM

Biography: Marc-David Munk, MD, MPH, MHCM is a palliative medicine attending physician at Tufts Medical Center. Dr. Munk brings extensive experience in academic medicine, healthcare administration, and clinical practice to his current role.

Dr. Munk's clinical background spans emergency medicine, international health, and palliative care. He previously served as Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, where he also held the position of System Executive Medical Director, and at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. In academic medicine, Dr. Munk has held leadership positions in medical education and program development. His research focuses on healthcare quality and value.

His healthcare administration experience includes several senior leadership roles at large healthcare organizations. He has spent over six years working in healthcare overseas and remains an advisor and board member to international healthcare delivery organizations.

Outside the office, Dr. Munk is a writer focusing on fiction and medical nonfiction. He is the author of "Urgent Calls from Distant Places," which was named Best Travel Book of 2024 by IndieReader.

Carol R. Pilgrim, MS, AOCN, FNP-BC

Role: Nurse practitioner on the inpatient palliative care consult service.

Biography: Carol has a bachelor's degree in political science from Grinnell College.  After working in a homeless shelter, she went back to school to become a nurse. She received a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Grand View College and later a Master of Science from the school of Public Health Nursing at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

After years of working various roles in oncology, including outpatient breast cancer, gastrointestinal cancers, and inpatient bone marrow transplant, she transitioned to working in palliative care. She joined Tufts Medical Center in June of 2022 with the goal of building a practice providing palliative care to patients with long hospital stays who would benefit from continuity of care.

Outside of work she is a proud mother and loves to hike, cross country ski and travel.

Barbara Ratto, RN BSN

Nurse Navigator, Palliative Care Division