Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship

Director's message

Thank you for your interest in OHSU's Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship Program!

Since 2002, the OHSU Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship Program has trained physicians with the knowledge and skills to lead the advancement of compassionate, interprofessional, patient and family-centered, culturally sensitive care for seriously ill individuals. We are proud to welcome fellows from diverse backgrounds, including fellows from all ten co-sponsoring boards, as well as physicians who have recently completed residency training to those who are quite experienced in their field. We value all individual differences and perspectives as a way to grow and stimulate learning.

Our well-rounded clinical and educational curriculum offers a fully-interprofessional training experience in a variety of practice settings around the Portland Metro Area.  Fellows participate in a robust clinical training that is supplemented with a rigorous didactic curriculum devised of numerous mini-curricula for focused learning that spans the course of the academic year. Highlights in include a bootcamp curriculum teaching key concepts in palliative care, a longitudinal communication curriculum that is Powered by VitalTalk, and a clinician educators’ curriculum.

We recognize the importance of fellow wellness for personal and professional success. As such, fellow well-being is our top priority. We support fellows with a variety of wellness activities, education, and resources during their training. Highlights include monthly supervision meetings, team-building activities and the OHSU Resident and Faculty Wellness Program.

Upon completion of the training program, our graduates are prepared for a career as palliative care clinicians and educators in a variety of practice settings – ambulatory and hospital, palliative care and hospice, community and academic. Our graduates are prepared to educate future generations of health care professionals in the primary and sub-specialty palliative care skills needed to improve serious illness care.

We are excited for you to learn more about our unique training program. We encourage you to reach out to us directly for additional information or questions.

Katie H. Stowers, D.O.
Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship Program Director

Interested in learning more?

Join the Program Director and Associate Program Director for a virtual information session.

Sessions will cover:

  • Our Program Mission and Values 
  • Program Highlights, including the clinical and educational curriculum
  • Living in Portland and Working at OHSU
  • Q&A: Breakout rooms to learn more about our adult and pediatric tracks

Register for:

Contact us

About our program

The mission of the OHSU Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship program is to develop expert hospice and palliative medicine physicians with the knowledge and skill to lead the advancement of compassionate, interprofessional, patient and family-centered, culturally competent care for seriously ill individuals. 

Our program aims

  1. Create a supportive and inclusive and diverse interprofessional environment where fellows’ well-being and professional development are our greatest priority.
  2. Train physicians from a variety of cultural and clinical backgrounds, who will excel as clinicians and educators, to help improve both primary and subspecialty palliative care across the healthcare continuum.
  3. Develop trainees with expert communication skills who can offer compassionate care for seriously ill individuals that is all culturally humble, patient- and family-centered, and interdisciplinary in nature.
  4. Educate physician leaders who are well prepared to succeed in a variety of practice settings including community and academic medicine.

Our program offerings

  • A 12-month, ACGME accredited Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship. All graduates of our fellowship program who demonstrate competence in the six ACGME Core Competencies will be eligible to sit for board certification in hospice and palliative medicine.
  • Two educational tracks:
    • Adult track training for two fellows per year. This track is ideal for physicians interested practicing Hospice and Palliative Medicine for seriously ill adult patients.
    • Pediatric Track training for one fellow per year. This track is ideal for physicians interested in practicing Hospice and Palliative Medicine for serious ill children. This track is offered in collaboration with Doernbecher Children’s Hospital.
  • Exposure to a variety of practice settings, including academic, community, and VA settings.   
  • Fully interprofessional training program through a partnership with the Portland Veterans Health Care System’s Interprofessional Palliative Care Fellowship Program, which is one of only six VA sponsored interprofessional fellowship programs in the country. Physician fellows interact with palliative care fellows from other professional disciplines (which can include social work, psychology, pharmacy, nursing and chaplaincy) during VA consult rotations, continuity clinic, and didactics.

Our team

Our core faculty are critical to the success of our fellowship program’s mission and aims. As we believe that interprofessional training is essential to the practice of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, our core faculty team includes both physician non-physician core faculty. 

Core faculty

  • Katie Stowers, D.O., Program Director
  • Sara Taub, M.D., Associate Program Director, Pediatric Track Site Director DCH
  • Briana Ketterer, M.D., Core Physician Faculty, Site Director OHSU
  • Julia Solheim, AGACNP, Core Nursing Faculty
  • Maija Mikkelsen, Core Chaplain Faculty
  • Rekha Thammana, M.D., Core Physician Faculty, Site Director Portland VA
  • Jason Malcom, LCSW, Core Psychosocial Faculty

Educational offerings

Clinical experiences

Our program offers a robust clinical experience in a variety of practice settings.  At the conclusion of the training program, fellows from both the pediatric and adult tracks are prepared to enter an academic or community-based hospice and palliative medicine practice.

Clinical sites

Sample schedules
The clinical schedule is comprised of 12 one-month rotations. 

Adult track

  • OHSU Consult Service, 4 months
  • Legacy Home Hospice, 2 1/2 months
  • VA Consult Service, 2 months
  • Long Term Care (VA), 1 month
  • Ambulatory Selective (OHSU), 1 month
  • Pediatric Palliative Care Service (Doernbecher), 1/2 month
  • Addiction Pain Medicine (OHSU), 1/2 month
  • Comprehensive Pain Center (OHSU), 1/2 month

Pediatric track

  • Pediatric Palliative Care Consults (inpatient service, as well as outpatient palliative care and fetal therapy appointments, and management of pediatric hospice patient)
    • Doernbecher Children’s Hospital
    • 6 months
  • VA Palliative Care Consult Service    
    • Portland VA Medical Center
    • 1 month
  • OHSU Palliative Care Consult Service   
    • OHSU
    • 1 month
  • Home Hospice
    • Legacy Hospice
    • 2 month
  • Long Term Care
    • Providence Center for Medically Fragile Children
    • 1 month
  • Selective (Child Life, regional anesthesia, radiation oncology, fetal therapy, pain service, etc.)    
    • Doernbecher Children’s Hospital and OHSU    
    • 1 month

Educational curriculum

Fellows participate in a robust educational curriculum to supplement clinical learning through self-guided learning, didactics, small group discussions, and simulation.

Fellows have protected time for structured learning activities and scholarship during all rotations, including:

  • One-half day per week protected for academic time including interprofessional didactics and work on scholarly projects.
  • One hour per week protected for Palliative Care Grand Rounds

The educational curriculum is further divided into mini-curriculums for focused learning that spans the course of the academic year. 

  • Serious Illness Communication mini-curriculum (based on the VitalTalk teaching method)
  • Psychosocial mini-curriculum
  • Ethics mini-curriculum
  • Diversity/Equity/Inclusion mini-curriculum
  • Addiction medicine mini-curriculum
  • Clinician-Educator mini-curriculum
  • Quality and Safety mini-curriculum

We offer additional educational experiences in:

  • Journal Club presentations
  • Teaching of students in both formal courses and on clinical rotations
  • Scholarship through quality improvement projects

Application process

Fellow selection

Our Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship Program is committed to creating a diverse, inclusive, and welcoming training environment. We value individual differences and perspectives as a way to grow and stimulate learning.   

We do not discriminate with regard to culture and racial/ethnic background, gender, age, sexual identity, religion, physical appearance, socioeconomic status, or veteran status.

Additionally, we are welcoming of applicants from a variety of clinical backgrounds, including all ten co-sponsoring boards.

Fellows are selected based upon their:

  • Interpersonal and teamwork skills
  • Communication skills
  • Dedication to lifelong learning
  • Professionalism and personal qualities such as motivation and integrity
  • Spirit of Curiosity
  • Cultural Sensitivity and Awareness

Eligibility

To be eligible for the Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship, you must have completed an Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)-accredited or Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC)-accredited program in child neurology, family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, physical medicine and rehabilitation, or neurology; or you must have completed at least three clinical years in an ACGME- or RCPSC-accredited graduate educational program in anesthesiology, emergency medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, psychiatry, radiation oncology, radiology, or surgery.

Applicants must be legally able to work in the U.S., or eligible to obtain work authorization.

Pre-employment drug screening is required. A negative drug screen (including THC, the active ingredient in marijuana) is required to finalize employment.

To apply

We remain committed to hosting our interview season virtually in order to create a more equitable, financially-secure, and climate-sustainable approach for this year and all future interview seasons.

  • Apply through the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) for fellowship applicants.
    • We ask that you provide three (3) letters of recommendation – to include a letter from your residency program director or current supervisor (if >5 years in practice). 
    • A letter from a palliative care provider is strongly encouraged, but not required. 
    • It is most important that your letter writers can speak honestly about your professionalism, patient care, communication, and interprofessional skills.
       
  • Completed applications submitted prior to July 24, 2024 will be given priority. Consideration of applications submitted or completed after this date will depend on interview availability.
     
  • Virtual Interviews will take place between mid-August through the end of October.
  • Appointments are made through the Hospice and Palliative Medicine Match, included under the Medical Specialties Matching Program, which is sponsored by the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP).

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