Dr. Nina O'Connor completed her undergraduate degree at Yale and then attended the University of Virginia School of Medicine where she also completed a family medicine residency and faculty development fellowship. She worked in academic family medicine with a strong emphasis on medical education before completing a fellowship in Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania.

She joined Penn faculty in 2013 after several years as a hospice medical director, and she quickly assumed leadership for the palliative care program at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. In 2015, Dr. O'Connor started a palliative care service at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. Dr. O'Connor serves as program director for Penn's Hospice and Palliative Medicine fellowship.

Dr. O'Connor is now Director of Palliative Care for the University of Pennsylvania Health System and provides support for the palliative medicine programs in all of the Penn hospitals. She is also Chief Medical Officer for Penn Wissahickon Hospice. She speaks widely on end of life care with special interests in serious illness communication, the impact of palliative care on health systems, and hospice.