Diana Claudette Martins-Welch, MD

Diana Martins-Welch, MD, is a palliative medicine specialist and the director of supportive oncology at Northwell Health Cancer Institute’s Monter Cancer Center. She provides outpatient palliative care to people who have cancer and are experiencing symptoms of their illness or treatment side effects, such as nausea, appetite loss, insomnia, anxiety, depression, pain, and fatigue. “Our team provides a holistic approach to palliative medicine that assesses and helps the whole person,” says Dr. Martins-Welch. As part of her care, she prescribes medications to combat a number of symptoms, and may refer patients to supportive therapies like acupuncture, physical therapy, and mental health services. She also specializes in creating treatment plans using medicinal cannabis to manage loss of appetite, nausea, pain and other symptoms. Dr. Martins-Welch became interested in oncology during her first year of medical school at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, shortly after her mother was diagnosed with cancer. Her interaction with the palliative care team that cared for her mother was so impactful she decided to do an elective in this field in her final year of school. “On day one of my palliative care rotation, I knew it was the path for me,” she says. She received her internal medicine residency training, followed by hospice and palliative medicine fellowship training at Northwell. Dr. Martins-Welch works with a team of providers, including oncologists, nurse practitioners, mental health professionals, social workers, chaplains and others to provide optimal interdisciplinary care to her patients. Dr. Martins-Welch is an assistant professor of medicine at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, as well as a member of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine and the American College of Physicians. She sits on the Northwell Health Opioid Management Steering Committee and leads the health system’s Medicinal Cannabis Workgroup. In addition, she is the site principal investigator for an NIH-funded grant, a multicenter study on advance care planning for older adults with cancer. For Dr. Martins-Welch, the connection she feels with her patients is one of the most rewarding parts of her job. “In doing this work I honor my mother each day,” she says. “I can empathize with patients and their families in a personal way.”