title: Introduction to the inaugural issue of Annals of Palliative Medicine.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Albany Medical College, 47 New Scotland Avenue, MC-131 Albany, New York 12208, USA. smithh@mail.amc.edu.
authors.forename: Howard S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Department of Thoracic Oncology, Cancer Center of Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510060, China.
authors.forename: Zhi-Hua
authors.initials: ZH
authors.lastname: Zhu