by Ethan Lisitz founder of Apliiq – co-hosted by his father Lewis A. Lipsitz, M.D., Vice President for Academic Medicine and Director of the Institute for Aging Research at Hebrew SeniorLife in Boston, MA, where he holds the Irving and Edyth S. Usen and Family Chair in Medical Research.

I was curious about how a dinner focused around the topic of death would make everyone feel and braced myself for a challenging and depressing conversation. It turned out to be quite the opposite, our group had some amazing stories to share about loved ones lost and rituals around death that each family held.

Around the table sat doctors, medical interns and students, a marketing professor, an entrepreneur and an educator. We all had insights about the way we approach death as a society and the need to make plans with family members about how we want to be treated at the end of our lives before we’re no longer capable.

There was also a consciousness about the growing interest in end of life care as a country and how we can responsibly approach these issues without the fear of public or political outcry.

Coming away from the dinner full of lasagna and chocolate cake I felt grateful to be able to participate in open, frank conversations about how we want to die and how we can bring this conversation to our community as a way to honor those before us and prepare for our future.