Palliative Care Research
The GIM Division has a large, well-organized and nationally recognized clinical and research program centered on palliative care and end-of-life issues. This research effort is lead by Jean Kutner, MD, MSPH who is also Head of the GIM Division. Dr. Kutner's efforts are supported by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), American Cancer Society, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a Paul Beeson Physician Faculty Scholars in Aging Research, and the Mendel-Asarch Lung Cancer Family Foundation. Dr. Kutner has developed and maintains the nation's only national hospice/palliative care practice-based research network, which currently consists of over 260 hospice/palliative care organizations. This network was the recipient of a prestigious national "Circle-of-Life" award in 2002. Additional information at: www.uchsc.edu/popcrn.
David Bekelman, MD, MPH, a board-certified internist and psychiatrist, focuses on psychosocial and palliative care, especially in heart failure and dementia. He recently completed several projects examining the role of spirituality and depression in patients with heart failure and lung cancer. He is also the Principal Investigator on a project to develop a palliative care program for people with heart failure and their family caregivers. He directs the Supportive Care Program, an outpatient palliative care program in the University of Colorado Heart Center.
Stacy Fischer, MD, is working with socially disadvantaged patients in the Denver Health Medical Center under the auspices of a Brookdale National Fellowship award. She is studying ethnic disparities in end-of-life care and the relationship between patient ethnicity and preferences for site of death.