About Dr. Meadows
Palliative Medicine Specialist
I’ve spent my career sitting with people at some of the hardest moments of their lives.
What they need is almost always the same.
Someone who stays with them, listens carefully, and helps them make sense of what they are facing.
Someone with the experience to understand it, the patience to explain it clearly, and nothing else on the agenda.
These conversations are some of the most important in medicine and life. They are also some of the hardest, which is why they so often don’t happen.
Palliative Medicine Specialist
I’ve spent my career sitting with people at some of the hardest moments of their lives.
What they need is almost always the same.
Someone who stays with them, listens carefully, and helps them make sense of what they are facing.
Someone with the experience to understand it, the patience to explain it clearly, and nothing else on the agenda.
These conversations are some of the most important in medicine and life. They are also some of the hardest, which is why they so often don’t happen.
The Story Behind PalliMate
For most of my career, I cared for people inside the health system. Each day I met with patients and families struggling to make sense of their disease, trying to understand why their symptoms were so debilitating, and looking for clarity about what to do next. These patients, by and large, had smart doctors and access to good care. Yet nearly all of them told me a variation of the same thing.
“This is the first time I feel heard.
This is the first time this makes sense.”
What became obvious to me was that this gap wasn’t caused by their doctors. Modern care delivery simply isn’t designed to give people with serious illness the support they truly need.
Even the services that work to address these shortcomings, the kind I worked in for years, are limited by insurance policies, practice restrictions, and middlemen who shape the conversation.
So I decided to build a different kind of medical practice.
PalliMate is that practice. One physician. As much time as the conversation needs. No insurance company deciding what’s covered. No hospital deciding what we focus on. No middleman shaping how the conversation goes.
Just a patient, a physician, and the conversation.
That’s PalliMate. It’s the practice I always wanted to build.
How I work with patients
My approach is consistent, regardless of the diagnosis, the stage, or how complicated the situation.
01
The first thing I need to understand is what you are actually carrying. That includes the medical facts, but also what worries you, what matters most to you, and what you hope for. Every person arrives with a unique story. Understanding it fully is what shapes everything that follows.
02
Medical information can be difficult to absorb, especially during stressful moments. My role is to translate what you have been told and help you understand what it actually means for your life. Uncertainty makes things heavier than they need to be. Clarity doesn’t make hard things easy. It makes them manageable.
03
These decisions belong to you and no one else. My role is not to tell you what to do, but to make sure you understand your situation and your options clearly enough to move forward with confidence. Whatever direction you choose, I help you feel informed, prepared, and supported.
This approach takes time. That’s the point.
My Background
Certification
Dual board certified in Palliative Medicine and Family Medicine through the National Board of Physicians and Surgeons.
Experience
Over twenty years caring for patients of every age and condition, from new diagnoses through survivorship, advanced illness, and end-of-life.
Clinical Scope
Thousands of consultations with patients and families navigating prognosis, treatment trade-offs, advance care planning, and what matters most to them.
Healthcare Insight
Direct experience building and leading patient programs inside hospitals, care management, and health plans, with a clear view of how the system makes decisions and where it falls short.
I chose palliative medicine at the start of my career and never looked for a reason to do anything else. It allowed me to focus on the whole person, not just the diagnosis, which is what drew me to the field and what has kept me here.
Over the years, I have seen how often patients and families miss having a real, personal relationship with a physician who has the time and desire to truly know them and think carefully through their situation with them. PalliMate was built to give people that experience again.
Most doctors aren’t given time for this work. I built a practice designed around it.
My Background
Certification
Dual board certified in Palliative Medicine and Family Medicine through the National Board of Physicians and Surgeons.
Experience
Two decades caring for patients of every age and condition, from new diagnoses through survivorship, advanced illness, and end-of-life.
Clinical Scope
Thousands of consultations with patients and families navigating prognosis, treatment trade-offs, advance care planning, and what matters most to them.
Healthcare Insight
Direct experience building and leading patient programs inside hospitals, care management, and health plans, with a clear view of how the system makes decisions and where it falls short.
I chose palliative medicine at the start of my career and never looked for a reason to do anything else. It allowed me to focus on the whole person, not just the diagnosis, which is what drew me to the field and what has kept me here.
Over the years, I have seen how often patients and families miss having a real, personal relationship with a physician who has the time and desire to truly know them and think carefully through their situation with them. PalliMate was built to give people that experience again.
Most doctors aren’t given time for this work. I built a practice designed around it.
When you’re facing times like this, clarity can be the hardest thing to hold onto. So much feels decided for you at the very moment your decisions matter most.
PalliMate is here to help you find your footing again. Together, we slow down, work through the questions weighing on you, and create space for decisions that feel informed, thoughtful, and truly your own.
Wherever you are in this process, you deserve someone willing to walk alongside you.
A free 10-minute meeting with Dr. Meadows is available if you need more information.
Currently serving Tennessee residents · All meetings by video or phone
