Dr. Paul E. Tatum is the medical director of the Compassus program serving Columbia, Missouri. He is also the associate professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Missouri – Columbia.
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 degree in public health from the University of Missouri – Columbia.
Tatum is fellowship director for the University of Missouri Hospice and Palliative Medicine fellowship program. He is also a fellow in the American Geriatrics Society and the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM), where he serves on the board of directors. He is active 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.
Tatum was 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, MD Award for Outstanding Achievement in Hospice Physician Leadership and the Geriatric Academic Career Award from the Department of Health and Human Services.