Dr. Stephen Pauker
A link to view the livestream of the memorial service can be found here.
Dr. Stephen Gary Pauker of Weston, Massachusetts passed away at the age of 81 on February 16, 2024. Dr. Pauker pioneered the field of medical decision making, cared for patients in the specialties of internal medicine, cardiology and clinical hypnosis at Tufts Medical Center for over 40 years and served as the Sara Murray Jordan Professor of Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine.
Dr. Pauker was born in 1942 to Helen Yurdin Pauker and Carl Jacob Pauker in New York City and raised in Kingston, New York. Stephen delighted in being an older brother to Kenneth Yurdin Pauker of Laguna Niguel, California, and Jonathan Phillip Pauker, who passed away in 2003.
Valedictorian of his class at Kingston High School, Dr. Pauker graduated Magna cum Laude in biomedical sciences from Harvard College as a member of Phi Beta Kappa and then from Harvard Medical School, Magna cum Laude as President of the Alpha Omega Alpha society. Dr. Pauker trained in cardiology at Massachusetts General Hospital.
In 1967, Dr. Pauker married Dr. Susan Perlmutter Pauker, who became a clinical geneticist and mentor at Harvard Medical School. Together, the Drs. Pauker developed the field of prenatal diagnostic decision making. They raised their children, Sheridan Joanna Pauker of Berkeley, California, and Scott Gregory Pauker of Moab, Utah, along with numerous dogs whose names also began with the letter “S,” in Weston, Massachusetts.
Beginning in the 1970’s, Dr. Pauker co-authored over 350 medical journal articles with his beloved peers and mentees at Tufts that have been cited over 14,000 times in the fields of decision analysis, cardiology, hypnosis, genetic screening, and many others. He was among the first to apply artificial intelligence to medicine, establish rational thresholds for testing and treatment, introduce the importance of patient preferences in medical decisions, and perform a decision analysis for a care decision for a patient. Dr. Pauker wrote the original code for the first medical decision analysis program. He founded and was Chief of the Division of Clinical Decision Making at Tufts Medical Center, a fellow of the American College of Cardiology, a Master of the American College of Physicians, a member of the Institute of Medicine, and President of the American Board of Medical Hypnosis and of the Society for Medical Decision Making.
In addition to the family members mentioned above, Dr. Pauker leaves son-in-law Jonathan Kaplan and grandson Jonah Mateo Pauker Kaplan, beloved colleagues at Tufts Medical Center, and dear family friend Lorena Richards, who lovingly cared for Dr. Pauker in his home for many years. The Pauker Family is deeply grateful to the staff of Lasell House in Auburndale, Massachusetts for their loving care of Dr. Pauker.
After a family burial, Dr. Pauker’s memorial service will be held at Temple Beth Elohim in Wellesley, Massachusetts on Tuesday, February 20, 2024 at 2:00 pm. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to Tufts Medical Center, Department of Medicine Division of Clinical Decision Making. Please visit giving.tuftsmedicalcenter.org/give-now to make an online donation, or call (617) 636-7656 and designate the “Stephen G. Pauker Memorial Lecture Fund” in the comments line.