Nicholas Buckley, DO

Nicholas Buckley, DO: Former student volunteer returns to Mission Hospice as Medical Director 

After growing up in Redwood City and then attending medical school and practicing medicine in New York, Nicholas Buckley has returned home to the Bay Area as our new Medical Director.

Dr. Buckley graduated from CalTech with a BS in Computation and Neural Systems. “Neuroscience is a really interesting field – there is so much unknown still,” he says. “But I realized I needed to be working directly with people rather than doing research behind-the-scenes. I needed that personal connection.”

That led him to medical school, where he received his DO from Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine in New York City and then worked in family medicine near Buffalo. He found himself drawn to geriatric care, a subspeciality of family medicine.

“As an osteopathic physician, I’ve been trained to think about all aspects of a patient’s care. That’s why hospice and palliative care are a great fit for me,” says Dr. Buckley. “We think of the person as a whole and what their needs are including and beyond their primary hospice diagnosis – focusing not just on physical care, but also emotional and spiritual care.”

His connection to hospice care dates to his teenage years. When he was in high school, Dr. Buckley was a direct care volunteer with Mission Hospice, and even got to work with Dr. Gary Pasternak, our longtime Medical Director before Dr. Buckley took on that role earlier this year.

Now, he is working side by side with Dr. Gary and our other clinicians to make sure that each patient receives the care and personal attention they deserve. 

“At Mission Hospice, we are really proud that our physician-led teams take care of the whole patient and all of their needs,” says Dr. Buckley.

“Our physicians meet monthly to discuss our patients’ care and see if we can together solve any issues people are having,” he says. “It’s great to have input from those beyond that patient’s particular care team.”

In addition to his work with Mission Hospice, Dr. Buckley is an Attending Physician with Homecare Physicians Medical Group, a geriatric home care practice led by Dr. Shelley Salpeter, also a Mission Hospice Associate Medical Director.

When he’s not working, Dr. Buckley enjoys spending time with his wife Cindy and their two dogs.