Christina Puchalski, MD, MS, is a pioneer and international leader in the movement to integrate spirituality into healthcare in clinical settings and medical education. As founder and director of the George Washington Institute for Spirituality and Health (GWish) and Professor of Medicine and Health Sciences at The George Washington University in Washington, DC, she continues to break new ground in the understanding and integration of spiritual care in a healthcare settings through educational curricula, including the GWish‐Templeton Reflection Rounds which focus on inner development of clinicians, research and policy. She has co‐led national and international consensus conferences leading to recommendations for the integration of interprofessional spiritual care in palliative care focused on whole person models of care to address suffering and spiritual needs of patients and families.
GWish is fostering alliances globally to further this integration through the Global Network for Spirituality and Health (GNSAH), co‐directed and founded by Dr. Puchalski. She developed the FICA spiritual history tool which is widely used in clinical settings. She is board certified in Palliative Medicine and Internal Medicine and is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. At the George Washington University Medical Faculty Associates she directs an interdisciplinary outpatient Supportive and Palliative Care clinic in Oncology and is a Medical Hospice Co‐Director for Professional Health in Washington, DC. She is recognized for her work in developing interdisciplinary educational curricula and innovated models of care in the US and other countries.
Dr. Puchalski is widely published in journals with work ranging from biochemistry research to issues in ethics, culture, and spiritual care. She has authored numerous book chapters and published a book with Oxford University Press entitled Time for Listening and Caring: Spirituality and the Care of the Seriously Ill and Dying. She co‐authored Making Health Care Whole with Dr. Betty Ferrell. She is co‐editor of an international Textbook on Spirituality and Health published by Oxford University Press. She is a co‐editor of the Humanities, Language, Art and Spirituality section of the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management; she also serves of many journal editorial boards. Her work has been featured on numerous print and television media. Her scholarship focuses on palliative care, spirituality and health and compassionate care as part of whole person health.
Puchalski has also served on many advisory committees or boards including The World Health Organization, The Vatican and the Maruzza Foundation, The Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine and the Association of Professional Chaplains.