Ira Byock is a physician

Physician

A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...

 specializing in palliative care

Palliative care

Palliative care is a specialized area of healthcare that focuses on relieving and preventing the suffering of patients...

. Byock is currently the Director of Palliative Medicine at Dartmouth–Hitchcock Medical Center, Chair of Palliative Medicine and Professor in the Departments of Anesthesiology, and Community and Family Medicine at Dartmouth Medical School

Dartmouth Medical School

Dartmouth Medical School is the medical school of Dartmouth College, located in Hanover, New Hampshire, in the United States. The fourth-oldest medical school in the United States, Dartmouth Medical School was founded in 1797 by New England physician Nathan Smith and grew steadily over the course...

. Byock authored Dying Well in 1997 and The Four Things That Matter Most in 2004. Both are used extensively in the counselling of patients and families dealing with advanced illness.