BJ Miller, MD

Dr. BJ Miller has worked in palliative and end-of-life care for over two decades. As an undergraduate at Princeton, an accident resulted in the amputation of three of his limbs, months in the hospital, and years of rehabilitation. He came to medicine through his experience as a patient, which shaped the kind of clinician, and caregiver, he wanted to become.

Miller has sat with thousands of patients and families through life’s hardest moments, and has found that people facing serious illness need more than our current healthcare systems can provide. After practicing and serving on faculty at UCSF for thirteen years and leading the Zen Hospice Project for six years, Miller co-founded Mettle Health, a virtual palliative care practice. Mettle’s praxistential approach is hewn from Miller’s many years of practice across all settings and is designed to support people working through the practical, relational, and existential weight of serious illness, aging, and end of life.

Miller has spent his career bringing these ideas into public conversation, through more than a hundred talks and interviews. His TED Talk, “What Really Matters at the End of Life,” has reached over 13 million people. In 2019, he co-wrote A Beginner’s Guide to the End: Practical Advice for Living Life and Facing Death. The book provides candid and practical guidance, exploring the logistics and difficult conversations that are often avoided or forgotten.

Throughout decades of training, patient care, and advocacy, Miller has dedicated his life to helping people live fully through the end of life. His mission is simple but profound: Less needless suffering, more love.