Four Seasons is proud and honored to welcome Dr. Michael Barnett, MD, MS, FACP, FAAP, FAAHPM to our Pediatric Hospice & Palliative Care team.

“Having worked in pediatric palliative care for over a decade, I’ve seen firsthand the challenges (and joys) of caring for children with complex and serious illnesses. I’ve seen how families want to maximize their time at home together (away from doctor’s offices and hospitals) in their own communities with the support of friends and family. I’m thrilled to join Four Seasons at a time when they are investing even more in the children of Western North Carolina by building a team of pediatric providers with the expertise and compassion to support these children and families right where they live,” says Dr. Barnett, MD, MS, FACP, FAAP, FAAHPM

Dr. Michael Barnett attended medical school at the University of Kentucky and completed a rural training track in the eastern mountains of that state. He was a resident in combined Internal Medicine & Pediatrics at UAB, and after a year as Med-Peds Chief, moved to Pittsburgh for fellowship training in Hospice & Palliative Medicine for children and adults at UPMC/Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. He stayed on another year there to complete a Master of Science in Medical Education, and with that created, implemented, and evaluated a Pediatric Palliative Care curriculum for resident physicians. He returned to Birmingham in 2012 and joined the faculty there as an HPM attending at UAB and Children’s of Alabama. In 2023, Dr. Barnett moved back to the mountains, this time in Western North Carolina, to work at Four Seasons. Among his many accomplishments and accolades, Dr. Barnett is triple-boarded in Pediatrics, Internal Medicine, and Hospice & Palliative Medicine and he is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Physicians, and the American Academy of Hospice & Palliative Medicine.

“Dr. Barnett not only brings his expertise to Four Seasons and Western North Carolina, he brings his calm demeanor and caring heart. His clinical leadership in our Pediatric Hospice and Palliative Care program will positively impact the lives of children and their families in our communities who are living with serious illness,” says Four Seasons Chief Medical Officer, Ruth Thomson, DO, MBA, HMDC, FAAHPM, FACOI.