Ratna Behal, M.D.

Dr. Ratna Behal is the Medical Director of Pediatric Palliative Care at the Phyllis and David Komansky Children's Hospital at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center and Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics in the Division of General Academic Pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medicine. She leads the Pediatric Advanced Care Team (PACT), an interdisciplinary group of clinicians with expertise in palliative care who provide an extra layer of support to improve quality of life for children and families dealing with serious illnesses, regardless of the stage of their disease or their prognosis.Dr. Behal received both her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology with a minor in Biology and her Doctor of Medicine degree from Georgetown University in Washington, DC.  During her medical education, she worked with the NIH-DC Initiative to Reduce Infant Mortality and participated in a longitudinal ‘Mind-Body Medicine’ Program at Georgetown University School of Medicine funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Subsequently, she moved to New York City where she completed her internship and residency in Pediatrics at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. She then completed a fellowship in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at a joint program between Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. Following her fellowship, she completed an additional fellowship year in Hospice and Palliative Medicine at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.  She is board-certified in Pediatrics, Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, and board-eligible in Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Her clinical interests include early integration of palliative medicine into the care of children with serious illnesses and building resiliency in healthcare providers.