Dr. Ann Berger completed her undergraduate degree with a B.S. in nursing from New York University, which was then followed by receiving a MSN in Oncology Nursing from University of Pennsylvania. After working as an Oncology Clinical Nurse Specialist for several years, Dr. Berger completed her medical training at Medical College of Ohio in Toledo, Ohio. Following medical school, Dr. Berger completed an internship and residency at Hartford Hospital in Connecticut and a Fellowship in medical oncology and pain/palliative care at Yale University in Connecticut. Dr. Berger remained on the faculty at Yale University where she started a palliative care service, as an Assistant Professor in Medicine and Anesthesiology.
As an Assistant Professor in medicine and anesthesiology at Cooper Hospital/University Medicine and Dentistry in New Jersey, Dr. Berger founded her second successful palliative care service. There, her service was actively involved in the care of patients and in education and research during her four year tenure. She initiated a palliative care course to medical students, residents and Fellows, and utilized her expertise while chairing the ethics committee. Dr. Berger also served as Medical Director of Lighthouse Hospice and as Director of Supportive Care Services at Cooper Hospital/University Medicine and Dentistry in New Jersey. During this time she also received two grants as Project Director of a pain and palliative care scholars program, and as Project Director for a project designed to develop pain/palliative care teams in New Jersey long term care facilities. Currently, Dr. Berger is chief of the Pain and Palliative Care Service at the National Institutes of Health, Clinical Center, where she has clinical, teaching, research, and administrative responsibilities.
Nationally, Dr. Berger has been involved with many activities including chair of the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center Pain and Palliative Care Collaborative Working Group, member of the steering committee for the National Palliative Care Consensus Project, and has been on the planning committee to improve quality of end of life care in conjunction with the Washington Area Geriatric Education, RAND Center to improve care of the dying, and DC Partnership to improve end of life care. On a community level Dr. Berger is a co-facilitator of a healing service at her synagogue. Internationally, she has been involved in the All-Ireland Fatigue Coalition, the Mid-Eastern Cancer Consortium, and the Croatian cancer consortium.
In 1998 Dr. Berger received the Hospice Medical Director Award, and in 1999 she was awarded the Spirit of Hospice Award from New Jersey Hospice and Palliative Care Organization. In 1998-2000, Dr. Berger was awarded an award for outstanding leadership in palliative care in long term care from the NJ SEED project, NJ Dept. of Health and Senior Services, Office of the Ombudsman for the Institutionalized Elderly and the Cooper Health Service. In the year 2001, Dr. Berger was awarded the directors clinical center patient care award at the National Institutes of Health. In 2002 Dr. Berger was awarded the Circle of Excellence award from Samaritan Hospice, as well as a proclamation from the New Jersey State Senate and Legislative Committees. She has lectured and published extensively in pain and palliative care.
Dr. Berger is Senior Editor of the major palliative care textbook, Principles and Practice of Supportive Oncology, published by Lippincott-Raven in 1998, as well as senior editor of Principles and Practice of Palliative Care and Supportive Oncology, , second, third edition last published in 2006, and the 4th edition published in 2013. . . Since 2004 Dr. Berger had several new books published: Cancer Pain: A Bedside Approach, Chemotherapy-induced Nausea and Vomiting, Handbook of Supportive Oncology- all three for health care professionals, and Myths and Facts of Cancer Fatigue for the patient with cancer as well as Myths and Facts about Chronic and Cancer Pain published. Dr. Berger has also published first book for lay people Healing Pain- by Rodale.