2026 Cooper Memorial Lecture
October 20, 2026
Join the Shadyside Department of Medicine for the 2026 Cooper Memorial Lecture “Beyond the Single Story: Navigating Goals of Care Discussions with Precision and Compassion” Thursday, October 29. Lunch will be provided at 11:30 a.m. and the lecture will begin at noon. The Cooper Endowment for the Department of Medicine was established by the Shadyside Hospital Foundation to honor Dr. Cooper’s lifetime achievements and to perpetuate the standards of patient care and physician education.
The program will be held in the West Wing Auditorium, First Floor, UPMC Shadyside, 5230 Centre Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15232. The lecture is sponsored by University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Center for Continuing Education in the Health Sciences and UPMC Shadyside Department of Medicine.
Sunita Puri, MD, MS, will be the special guest speaker. Dr. Puri is the director of inpatient palliative medicine consultation service and an associate professor of medicine at University of California, Irvine School of Medicine.
This presentation is intended for physicians, nurses, social workers, allied health professionals, medical students, residents, fellows, community members, writers, artists, and practitioners of the humanities. At the end of this lecture, participants should be better able to:
- Articulate the structure of goals of care discussions at different points during a serious illness.
- Understand the importance of precise and compassionate language during goals of care conversations.
- Apply a storytelling-based framework to these discussions with patients and their own families.
In support of improving patient care, the University of Pittsburgh is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team. This activity is approved for the following credit: AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™. The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine designates this live activity for a maximum of 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. Other healthcare professionals will receive a certificate of attendance confirming the number of contact hours commensurate with the extent of participation in this activity.
No registration is required to attend the lecture in person or virtually. Lunch will be provided for attendees in person. To attend the program virtually, please visit: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/254005683514315?p=68N4hn5FCSewcuzqA0.
