jews d

on the cover

in
the

Man On
A Mission

Near-death experience prompts oncologist
to shift his focus to end-of-life care.

BARBARA LEWIS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

ABOVE: Dr. Jeff Forman speaks at the
June Jewish Hospice and Chaplaincy
Network board meeting, as David
Techner and Rabbi Bunny
Freedman listen.

J

effrey Forman stared down a life-threatening illness and
emerged a changed man.
Forman, 60, of Bloomfield Hills was a nationally known
radiation oncologist with a thriving practice. He was fulfilled
in his career as well as his personal life, with his wife, Miriam,
his three adult children (including one who is an oncologist)
and his three grandchildren.
Then the doctor became a patient, and his life changed
course.
Now, Forman is the medical director for Jewish Hospice
and Chaplaincy Network (JHCN) and its palliative care pro-
gram, LifeLinks.
LifeLinks provides in-home nursing and support services
for people with serious, chronic illness who don’t meet the
hospice requirement of a six-month prognosis. The emphasis
is on palliative (comfort) care. LifeLinks also provides sup-
port services for caregivers.
Forman grew up on Long Island, graduated from Union
College and New York University’s medical school, then did
specialty training at Johns Hopkins.
He says he chose oncology during a medical school psychi-
atry rotation. He hated psychiatry, but he was deeply affected
by one of his professor’s patients, a woman his age dying of
Hodgkin’s disease. She was sad and terrified, and Forman
decided he wanted to help people like her.
In 1988, he moved to Michigan to join the medical school
faculty at University of Michigan. From there he went to
Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit and served for 20 years
as chairman of the radiation oncology department at Wayne
State University’s School of Medicine.
Forman had left Karmanos and was working for 21st
Century Oncology, the country’s largest private oncology
practice, when he was diagnosed with myelofibrosis, a fatal

continued on page 20

18

December 14 • 2017

jn