Michael W. Rabow, M.D., is a Professor of Clinical Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Board-certified in internal medicine and hospice & palliative care, he directs the Symptom Management Service at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center.
He is the Associate Director of the UCSF Palliative Care Leadership Center (PCLC) and a member of the curriculum development committee for the PCLC Initiative nationally. The PCLC Initiative has trained more than 500 of the approximately 1200 hospital-based palliative care programs in the United States. Dr. Rabow is the executive producer of "The Caregivers" film and accompanying family caregiver handbook. He has written and taught widely about family caregiving and communication with patients and families around serious news and existential issues at the end-of-life. In addition to his clinical palliative care work, Dr. Rabow has an active outpatient primary care medicine practice.
Dr. Rabow attended UCSF for medical school and general internal medicine residency training. He completed fellowships at UCSF in general medicine, as well as in medical education research. His research work is in palliative care, family caregiving, and end-of-life care education. Dr. Rabow has served as a consultant to U.S. hospitals and hospital systems working to develop or expand their palliative care services for more than eight years and runs one of the nation's leading outpatient palliative care consultation services.
Dr. Rabow was Assistant Editor for the recently completed bimonthly section in the Journal of the American Medical Association entitled "Perspectives on Care at the Close of Life." He serves as the Director of the Center for the Study of the Healer's Art at the Institute for the Study of Health and Illness at Commonweal in California.
Dr. Brieze Keeley Bell is a board-certified integrative internal medicine and palliative care physician who originally hails from the Midwest, but has found her home here on the West Coast. She completed her medical training at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. There, she was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society, and received awards for Distinction in Clinical Research and Highest Overall Standing in her graduating class. Dr. Bell then pursued residency training in internal medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, prior to completing fellowship training in palliative medicine at the University of California San Francisco. She has since joined the UCSF Helen Diller Cancer Center Symptom Management Service (SMS) as an attending physician in palliative medicine.
In addition to her work at the SMS Clinic, Dr. Bell is currently pursuing clinical fellowship training at the UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine. As a former professional dancer, health counselor, and long-time yoga teacher, Dr. Bell has had a lifelong passion for helping patients and providers optimize health through lifestyle-based interventions in concert with high-quality biomedical care. This training experience is deepening her expertise in evidence-informed, integrative approaches to wellness—including dietary strategies, mindfulness-based stress reduction techniques, and other complementary therapies where appropriate.
Kara Bischoff, MD, is the Director of Quality Improvement for the Palliative Care Service at the UCSF Medical Center. As such, she works on projects to improve pain, complete advance directives, and transition care between the hospital and home settings. She is also working with the gastrointestinal oncologists to develop a program to support patients with metastatic colorectal cancer from the time of diagnosis.
Dr. Bischoff belongs to The American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine and the Society for Hospital Medicine. She attended Harvard Medical School, completed her residency at UCSF (Internal Medicine, 2012), and her Fellowship at UCSF (Hospice and Palliative Medicine, 2014). She is also a mother and an outdoor enthusiast.
David Bullard, PhD, Licensed Psychologist and Licensed Marital and Family Therapist, has been practicing individual psychotherapy and couples therapy in San Francisco for over 30 years. He is Clinical Professor of Medicine and Clinical Professor of Medical Psychology (Psychiatry) at the University of California, San Francisco, where he was affiliated with the Human Sexuality Program and the Behavioral Medicine Unit, hosted international symposia on sexuality and medical conditions, and taught courses to medical students, nurses, interns, residents, faculty, therapists and other health care providers. He currently consults at UCSF with the Symptom Management Service at the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, and is also a member of the Professional Advisory Group, Clinical Pastoral Education Program, Spiritual Care Services. More information is on the website drbullard.com.
Dr. Danielle Chammas is a palliative care physician who works in the UCSF Symptom Management Service. She helps address the physical and emotional effects of illness that impact her patients' quality of life.
Chammas loves getting to know her patients so she can better understand what they find important and meaningful. She has a strong interest in how our culture approaches illness and what it means to live well. She is also interested in the humanities ‐ the field of learning that explores human interests and ideas – and in teaching.
Chammas earned her medical degree at UCSF, where she graduated as a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. She remained at UCSF for her residency in adult psychiatry, and she served as a chief resident at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Health Care System, where she was recognized for her commitment to teaching. She completed a fellowship in hospice and palliative medicine at UCSF.
Chammas is a member of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine.
Chammas was born and raised in San Diego. In her free time, she enjoys writing and illustrating in genres ranging from poetry to children's books.
Dr. Stephanie Cheng is a palliative care physician who cares for patients with terminal or life-altering illness. Her goal is to provide holistic, person-centered care focused on improving patients' quality of life. She devotes most of her clinical time to outpatient palliative care and sees patients through the Bridges Program, which provides supportive home care to UCSF patients with life-threatening or advanced illness. She also sees oncology patients through the Symptom Management Service at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. Cheng has a special interest in integrative approaches to symptom management and improving quality of life. She completed a two-year program through Spirit Rock Meditation Center and the Metta Institute, exploring illness, aging and death from a contemplative perspective and learning how to incorporate mindfulness, compassion and other meditation practices into her work with patients and into her daily life. Cheng received her medical degree from Oregon Health & Science University, followed by a family medicine residency at UCSF affiliate Contra Costa Regional Medical Center. She then completed a dual fellowship in hospice and palliative medicine and integrative medicine at George Washington University. She is a member of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine and the Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health.
Learn more about Dr. Christensen on UCSFHealth.org
Dr. Janet Ho is a palliative care doctor who works with patients who have serious illnesses. She is also an addiction medicine specialist who consults at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center.
Ho's research focuses on ways to improve care and quality of life for people experiencing serious illnesses, pain and substance use disorders. With a goal of ending the stigma around drug use, she works to promote public health strategies that reduce the harms of using drugs (such as overdose) through national lectures, textbook contributions and academic papers.
Ho earned her medical degree at the University of California, Irvine. She completed a residency in internal medicine at Yale School of Medicine, also serving as chief resident. She completed fellowships in general internal medicine, palliative care and addiction medicine at Harvard Medical School, training at Massachusetts General Hospital. She also completed a master of public health degree at the T.H. Chan Harvard School of Public Health.
Dr. Anne Kinderman is a palliative care specialist who works with patients experiencing serious illness, including cancer. Seeking to integrate the full context of each individual's life into her care, she focuses on helping patients live as well as possible while they face the challenges that accompany serious illness. Her patients come from diverse geographic locations and life situations, and she is committed to understanding their unique values, priorities and concerns in order to help them make the best decisions for their care.
Kinderman's research interests include expanding access to high-quality palliative care for patients insured by Medicaid, promoting best practices in communication for patients who have limited proficiency in the English language, and developing palliative care programs in safety net health systems.
Kinderman earned her medical degree at Rush Medical College. She completed a residency in internal medicine at UCSF and a fellowship in hospice and palliative medicine at Stanford University. Prior to joining UCSF, she worked for many years at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (ZSFG) as the founding director of its Supportive and Palliative Care Service. In this role, she cared for patients with diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds, socioeconomic statuses, social connections and types of illness.
Kinderman has won awards for her work in palliative medicine, including the Commitment to Patient Care Award from the UCSF Symptom Management Service, an award for subspecialty consultant of the year from ZSFG, and an inspiring leader under 40 award from the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine.
Dr. Paul Lindenfeld works closely with the oncology team to manage: cancer-related pain, fatigue, weight loss, depression/anxiety, gastrointestinal symptoms, and other symptoms with the goal of improving patients' quality of life and function. He also assists with advanced care planning in the setting of serious medical illness. After practicing for over 10 years in primary care, Dr. Lindenfeld is now exclusively practicing outpatient palliative care at UCSF.
Elizabeth Stewart is a clinical practice nurse for the Symptom Management Service. Elizabeth completed her nursing education in her home state of Colorado, and has worked as a nurse for the past six years with a primary focus on inpatient oncology. With additional nursing training and experience in the operating room, telemetry, adult specialty care, and pediatric patient care settings, Elizabeth has a wide breadth of skills. She helped to develop Stanford Health Care’s patient-centered Cancer Supportive Care Program, and has worked with patients in various hospital settings throughout California as a chemotherapy/biotherapy certified oncology nurse.
Elizabeth has a strong passion for integrative cancer care, and for providing education to patients regarding nutrition and lifestyle adaptations that can be used to complement patient treatment plans. She made the transition from oncology to palliative care to best serve her patients by focusing on each patient’s quality of life, and providing holistic patient-specific care, addressing the physical, emotional, spiritual, and social aspects of each individual. In her free time Elizabeth enjoys long hikes with her rescue dog, Kamea.
Natalie C. Young, MD, is a geriatrics and palliative care physician who cares for patients with serious illness and their families. She specializes in managing symptoms such as pain, shortness of breath, nausea, fatigue, and anxiety. As a geriatrician, she also specializes in the care of older adults, with attention to evaluation of function, mobility, cognition, nutrition, and medications. Her primary goal is to improve the quality of life of her patients and provide personalized care based on her patients' values and goals. Dr. Young graduated from the UCSF School of Medicine and remained in San Francisco for her residency in Internal Medicine with a focus on primary care. She (briefly) left San Francisco to complete an integrated geriatrics and palliative medicine fellowship at the Icahn School of Medicine at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.
Jeannie Zanetti is a nurse practitioner who cares for patients with cancer. She works as part of an interdisciplinary team of doctors and nurses to ease pain, fatigue and other symptoms associated with cancer and its treatments. She has a particular interest in supporting patients through grief and loss.
Zanetti earned her master's degree in nursing from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. She completed the advanced training to become a certified adult-gerontology primary care nurse practitioner at UCSF. She is also certified in hospice and palliative care.
In her free time, Zanetti enjoys rock climbing and canoe paddling (a pastime for more than 20 years). Before becoming a nurse, she worked as a wilderness camp counselor for teenage girls, leading canoeing and rock climbing trips.
Carly Zapata is a palliative care doctor who provides consultations for hospitalized patients with cancer or other serious illnesses. She helps them with controlling symptoms as well as advance care planning. Zapata researches strategies to make advance care planning easier for both patients and doctors. She also studies how to promote self-care for doctors and ways to incorporate routine palliative care into oncology practices. Zapata earned her medical degree from Harvard Medical School and a master's in public health from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She completed her residency in internal medicine at UCSF, where she served as chief resident. She also completed a fellowship in hospice and palliative medicine at UCSF. Zapata is a member of the Society of General Internal Medicine and American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. She is an assistant clinical professor at UCSF. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, reading fiction, exploring San Francisco and spending time with her toddler.