In cooperation with the University of Buffalo Medical School we present a program that teaches sophomore Medical Students “How to Deliver Bad News”.

The Cancer Wellness Center recognizes the life-altering nature of a cancer diagnosis and believes that training health care professionals to communicate empathetically with patients during this time of crisis is crucial. For the past ten years, we have pursued an energetic program aimed at filling the gaps in the health care system surrounding the first stage of cancer care, breaking the bad news. Studies have shown that a person’s attitude toward his/her struggle with cancer can directly affect the success of medical treatment. Our staff of volunteer cancer survivors, are the best source of information to help a medical student begin to understand the struggle with this disease.

We are delighted to announce that an article about our program has been recently published in the "Journal of Palliative Medicine."The title of the article is : Breaking Bad News: Use of Cancer Survivors in Role-Playing Exercises.


We have created an innovative method of training medical students: the use of volunteer cancer survivors to role-play as patients receiving their diagnoses. This scenario sharply focuses the issues of compassion and survival in the face of a life threatening disease. The medical student receives an immediate evaluation form the “patient”, who uses a checklist that has been designed by UB Medical School and the Cancer Wellness Center. The students have graded this program as the best program that they have had since they came to medical school. To date through the use of cancer survivors, we have trained 1,650 sophomore medical students at the University of Buffalo Medical School on “How to Deliver Bad News” with compassion and empathy.

Pre and post course questionnaires showed significant rise in student confidence in the performance of the task. The results of the program are overwhelming; students are transformed by the experience. The cancer survivors, experienced in receiving the news,  can provide students with cogent and memorable feedback.

One of the students evaluated the program in the following way:

"What an amazing experience.  I couldn't have imagined how enriching it would be to hear from a panel of cancer survivors. You can learn therapies and programs from books, but the amount I learned today from the stories told from people so generous to give their time was something I will truly never forget. I'll carry it with me in my practice and it will surely change the way I give bad news"

This program is at the heart of the latest initiative in medical education, which is to help medical students learn how to communicate with compassion and empathy. Our hope is to develop this program into a continuing medical education program.

If there are any universities interested in learning about our program, please contact us at

(716) 694-1395 or click here