Dr. Erin Bakanas joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Palliative Medicine as a Professor on August 1, 2019. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT and graduated from The University of Connecticut School of Medicine in 1987. She completed a residency in Internal Medicine at The Jewish Hospital of Saint Louis at Washington University. She then spent 25 years as a faculty member at Saint Louis University (SLU) and was a Professor of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine. In addition to maintaining a busy clinical practice, Dr. Bakanas served many administrative and teaching roles during her time at SLU, including Chair of the SLU Hospital Ethics Committee from 2003-2018, Medical Director of Fusz Pavilion, and Director of Education for the Bander Center for Medical Business Ethics at Saint Louis University. She participated in the teaching of medical students and residents as well as nurse practitioner students. In 2007 she was the recipient of the Woman of the Year Award from Saint Louis University Women’s Commission. In 2009 she received the Clerkship Teaching Award from SLU School of Medicine. Dr. Bakanas is also a two-time recipient of the Caring Physician Award from Saint Louis University Hospital. She has published on the topics of ethics, professionalism, and medical business ethics. In 2014 she was a co-author on an Academic Medicine article, “A Humble Task: Restoring Virtue in an Age of Conflicted Interests”, which received the ABIM Foundation Professionalism Article prize. In 2004 she earned a Master of Arts in Health Care Mission from The Aquinas Institute of Theology in Saint Louis. In 2019 Dr. Bakanas completed a fellowship in Hospice and Palliative Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine. Her interests include health care ethics, medical business ethics, and addiction medicine.