Heather Truher Cousins
Clinical Assistant Professor (Affiliated), Primary Care and Population Health
Bio
Dr. Cousins is a clinician educator based at the Palo Alto VA. She is board certified in Geriatric Medicine, Hospice and Palliative Medicine, and Internal Medicine. Dr. Cousins has an undergraduate degree from Stanford (Human Biology) and medical degree from the University of Chicago, and completed residency and fellowship at UCSF. She serves as medical director for the subacute nursing home (4C Short Stay CLC) at the Palo Alto VA, as well as for the VA Home Based Primary Care teams in Palo Alto and San Jose. Dr. Cousins serves as the primary faculty expert on geriatric palliative care for the Stanford Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship Program. She is closely involved with teaching the Hospice and Palliative Medicine fellows in the long term care setting and teaches the Geriatric-Palliative care thread for the fellowship core curriculum. Dr. Cousins is the VA site director for the Home Care Medicine rotation for the Stanford Geriatric Medicine Fellowship Program. She also enjoys teaching history/physical and presentation skills to medical students in their second-year Practicum course. Her interests include supportive care for advanced cancer patients (especially head/neck cancer), nursing homes, home care medicine, transitions between care settings, elder abuse/neglect, and wound care.