Jeanie & Stewart Ritchie Professor of Medicine

Chief Wellness Officer, Stanford Medicine

Associate Dean, Stanford School of Medicine

Dr. Tait Shanafelt is the chief wellness officer, associate dean, and Jeanie and Stewart Richie Professor of Medicine at Stanford University. Dr. Shanafelt’s is a hematologist/oncologist whose clinical work focuses on the care of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia.  He served a 7-year term on the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Leukemia Steering Committee from 2014-2020 and has been principle investigator on four R01 grants from the NCI, including two active R01s.  He has been the principle investigator on numerous clinical trials testing new treatments for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia including two national phase three trials for the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG).  He has published over 500 peer review manuscripts and commentaries in addition to more than 200 abstracts and book chapters.  

 In addition to his leukemia research, Tait is an international thought leader and researcher in the field of physician well-being and its implications for quality of care.  His pioneering studies in this area over 20 years ago are credited with helping launch the entire field of organizational efforts to promote clinician well-being. He previously served as the founding director of the Mayo Clinic Program on Physician Well-being and served a 3-year term as the president of the Mayo Clinic Voting Staff from 2013- 2016.  In 2017, he moved to Stanford where he leads the WellMD Center.  He served as a member of the National Academy of Medicine Committee on System Approaches to Support Clinician Well-being and now serves on the  National Academy Clinician Well-being Steering Committee.  He has helped hundreds of organizations and their leaders work to improve burnout and promote professional fulfillment for physicians. Dr. Shanafelt has served as a keynote speaker to the AMA, ACGME, AAMC, and ABIM.  Tait’s studies in this area have also been cited in CNN, USA Today, U.S. News, and the New York Times. In 2018, he was named by TIME Magazine as one of the 50 most influential people in healthcare.