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Dr. Richard Payne is director of the Duke Institute on Care at the End of Life and an expert in the areas of pain relief, care for those near death, oncology and neurology. The Duke Institute on Care at the End of Life seeks to increase knowledge and rediscover old wisdoms concerning the end of life through interdisciplinary scholarship, teaching, and outreach, emphasizing the spiritual dimension of care. As a teaching and research program located in a divinity school, the Institute is particularly focused on addressing the moral and theological dimensions of pain and suffering, and creating innovative community-based models of care. 

Prior to his appointment at Duke, Dr. Payne was associate professor and chief of neurology at the University of Cincinnati VA Medical Center, (1987-1992); chief, pain and symptom management section of the department of neurology at the MD Anderson Cancer Center (1992-1998), in Houston, TX; and from 1998-2004 led the pain and palliative care service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, where he held the Anne Burnett Tandy Chair in Neurology. He currently serves the board of directors of The Hastings (bioethics) Center, the Foundation for Hospices in Sub-Saharan Africa (FHSSA), a program of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO), and is board chair of the National Coalition of Cancer Survivors. He has served on numerous national and federal committees, and received many research and clinical awards.   

Dr. Payne received his BA in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University, and his MD from Harvard Medical School. He completed his post-graduate training in medicine at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston; in neurology at the Cornell Campus of the New York Presbyterian Hospital; and fellowship in neuro-oncology and pain medicine at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Dr. Payne was president of the American Pain Society from 2003-2004. He is certified in palliative medicine from the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, and in neurology and pain management from the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and the American Academy of Pain Medicine. He has edited four books, and published more than 275 peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, essays and abstracts.