Michael Balboni, Ph.D., Th.M., M.Div, is an Instructor at Harvard Medical School and a palliative care researcher at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.  He holds a Ph.D. in theology from Boston University and completed post-doctoral training at the Harvard School of Public Health and at Harvard Divinity School.  He received a career development award as a faculty scholar with the Program on Religion and Medicine at the University of Chicago.  As a theologian, his focus has included the development of a theology of medicine and a concentration in the theological underpinnings related to spiritual care in a pluralistic, secular medical context.  He is currently writing a manuscript, co-authored with Tracy Balboni, entitled Hostility to Hospitality, to be published with Oxford University Press in 2017.  The book explores the manifestations of spirituality and religion within the socialization processes and institutional structures experienced by medical professionals. In addition, Michael works as a social-scientific researcher.  His empirical projects currently focus on spirituality and religion and their associations with end-of-life medical utilization and patient outcomes. His work has also included a focus on the incorporation of religious variables within social-scientific measurements and ways in which scientific data informs theology.