Paul E. Tatum, III, MD, MSPH, CMD, FAAHPM, is associate professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He also serves as medical director of the Compassus program in Columbia, Missouri.
Dr. Tatum graduated Magna cum Laude with a bachelor’s degree in Biology from Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. He received his medical degree from the University of Texas Health Science Center and a Master’s of Science in Public Health from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
He has held various medical and teaching positions, working as a long-term care staff physician in Arizona, a staff physician in Colorado, clinical assistant professor at the University of Arizona and senior clinical instructor at the University of Colorado. In 2010-2011, Dr. Tatum developed national curriculum with the AAHPM and CAFP to redefine palliative medicine for primary care physicians. He is a fellow in the AAHPM and the American Geriatrics Society.
Dr. Tatum is on the AAHPM board of directors. He also serves on several national committees, including the National Quality Forum (NQF) Hospice & Palliative Care Working Group, AAHPM Policy Committee and is founding chair of that organization’s Geriatrics Special Interest Group. Locally, he serves on the University of Missouri Palliative Care Committee and MU’s Ethics Committee.
He is senior section editor for PC-FACS, the AAHPM evidence-based medicine journal, and contributes to a number of journals. He was recently awarded the 2016 Hastings Center Cunniff-Dixon Mid-Career Physician Award for advancing end-of-life care as a basic part of the doctor-patient relationship. He is also a recipient of the R. Sean Morrison, M.D. Award for Outstanding Achievement in Hospice Physician Leadership and the Geriatric Academic Career Award from the Department of Health and Human Services.