Jennifer Heinen, MD

My main priorities at MSK are clinical care, medical education, and physician well-being. My principal role as an attending hospitalist entails admitting patients to the hospital; providing diagnosis, work-up, and treatment for a wide range of medical and oncologic ailments; supervising advance practice providers (APPs) and medical residents during their clinical work; and collaborating with oncologists to support patients’ seamless transition to an outpatient setting upon discharge. In my practice of inpatient medicine, I emphasize evidence-based care and participate in continuing medical education activities and conferences to update my medical knowledge. To that end, I have completed specialized training, including point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS), to advance my diagnostic skills. As a member of the Nursing and Pharmacy Quality Assurance Committees, I engage in many quality improvement activities to reduce medical error and improve the safety of patient care. 

Education of our transitional-year (TY) interns and rotating residents is also a high priority for the Hospital Medicine Service at MSK. I serve as a supervisor and educator for these new physicians on the wards and emphasize a holistic approach to cancer care. I direct the Quality Improvement course for the TY interns, give several didactic sessions about common clinical issues (i.e., tachyarrhythmias, hypoxemic respiratory failure), and serve as a member of the TY Program Evaluation and Clinical Competency Committees. I am also very involved in education for the Weill Cornell medical students, having served as preceptor for OSCE and communications workshops, Physical Diagnosis course instructor, and most recently, Director of a Thrombocytopenia course for major clinical-year students. I am deeply involved in educational initiatives institution-wide, including creating and organizing a weekly lecture series for the Department of Hospital Medicine and serving as a member of the Grand Rounds Committee (organizing Medicine Grand Rounds for the entirety of MSK).  

Physician well-being has become a recent focus of my practice; I am a member of the Graduate Medical Education Wellness Committee and lead/organize psychosocial debriefing sessions for the interns, residents, fellows, and attendings at MSK. I was also recently elected as a Well-being Champion for the American College of Physicians and will be pursuing further physician wellness initiatives on a larger scale.