Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, September 6, 2007 – MaryBeth Pope Salama, MD, of Pittsburgh, has been appointed a Team Physician for VITAS Innovative Hospice Care® of Greater Pittsburgh.

As a team physician, Dr. Salama is responsible for the medical care and treatment of patients admitted to VITAS Innovative Hospice Care® of Greater Pittsburgh. She also consults with the patients’ attending physicians, provides guidance to VITAS staff and volunteers and educates practicing physicians and others engaged in healthcare services regarding the benefits of hospice and palliative care for patients and their families.

Prior to joining VITAS, Dr. Salama spent 16 years as a family physician in private practice in the Pittsburgh area. She recently completed the Senator John Heinz Fellowship in Palliative Care at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Salama is board certified in family practice medicine.

“After more than 16 years in family practice, I’m following my heart by joining VITAS to care for patients at the end of life and their families,” says Dr. Salama. “One of my personal goals is to keep referring physicians up to date and as involved as they’d like to be in the day-to-day care of their terminally ill patients, while providing those patients with the benefit of my palliative care training.”

Dr. Salama previously served as medical director for another Pittsburgh-area hospice and as a clinical instructor of internal medicine in the Division of Palliative Care at the University of Pittsburgh. Her experience as an educator also includes serving as assistant director for clinical affairs and, before that, faculty, of the Family Practice Residency at the Western Pennsylvania Hospital, where she was a member of the medical staff from 1991 to 2006. She previously served as a clinical instructor in family medicine and clinical epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh and as the co-director of the Peabody High School Wellness Center.

Dr. Salama received her medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She completed a residency program in family medicine at Shadyside Hospital in Pittsburgh. She also holds a master’s degree in physiology from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Dr. Salama is a member of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, the American Academy of Family Physicians and the Pennsylvania Medical Society. She is completing the facilitator training program of the American Academy on Communication in Healthcare. She also is a singer with the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh and a member of its Board of Directors.