David Buxton, MD, FAPA, DFAACAP, FAAHPM

As a tripled boarded physician in adult psychiatry, child psychiatry and palliative care, Dr. David Buxton’s body of work is dedicated to reshaping the narrative and activities at the intersection of technology, mental health, spirituality and serious medical illness. His work has been recognized by fellowships in all three specialties by the Academy of Hospice & Palliative Medicine, American Psychiatric Association and American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

Dr. Buxton has achieved success in multiple healthcare ecosystems including academics, corporate, private practice and startup companies. His focus has been on how to achieve better quality of care and outcomes for patients’ mental health when dealing with a serious medical illness. His work has been featured in the Journal of Palliative Medicine, Journal of American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychiatric Annals, Neuropsychiatry, American Medical Association Journal of Ethics, Association of Community of Cancer Center and KevinMD.com. He has been noted to have a unique expertise in finding ways to allow systems to be more efficient via improving communication through an open dialogue of 'unmentionables' in healthcare.

Dr. Buxton became the Executive Medical Director of Palliative Medicine for AdventHealth Central Florida - South in April 2020. Over 3 years during the COVID pandemic, he tripled the size of the division and expanded it to over 30 interdisciplinary staff members at 8 hospitals including the 3rd largest in the USA. His research focused on decreasing time to consultation to improve length of stay and streamlining inpatient hospice care to improve end of life treatment.

He was excited to join Moffitt Cancer Center in July 2024 to be the Department Chair of Supportive Care Medicine. In this role, he will grow 3 divisions: Palliative Medicine, Behavioral Health and Integrative Medicine. His research is focused on Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy for cancer patients.