Two professors from UC San Diego have been named among the most influential leaders in hospice and palliative care by the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM): Rabia Atayee, PharmD, professor of clinical pharmacy and associate dean for admissions and recruitment at Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of California San Diego, and Gary Buckholz, MD, clinical professor at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and palliative medicine physician at UC San Diego Health.
“I am truly honored and grateful to be recognized as a 'Visionary' in Hospice and Palliative Medicine,” said Atayee. “This acknowledgment is not just a personal achievement, but a testament to the collective commitment of palliative care pharmacists to advancing the field. The 'Visionary' label emphasizes pharmacists' crucial role in shaping the future of patient care through innovative thinking and practice.”
Buckholz, who is also codirector for the Sanford Compassionate Communication Fellowship at UC San Diego, added, “I am humbled to be recognized alongside my colleagues who have dedicated their careers to delivering compassionate care that improves the lives of patients and families facing serious illness.”
Hospice and palliative medicine is the medical specialty that focuses on relieving pain and other symptoms in seriously ill patients. In addition to providing treatment, hospice and palliative care also help patients and families understand their options and make decisions about their care, as well as provide information on spiritual and psychosocial services, support for family and caregivers and grief counseling.
“These visionaries represent thousands of clinicians, educators, and researchers who continue to innovate and lead the field to provide the highest quality care and support for those living with serious illness and their caregivers,” said Vicki Jackson, president of AAHPM.
AAHPM asked its membership of more than 5,000 health care practitioners to nominate leaders in the field to receive this distinction. Atayee and Buckholz, both board-certified in their respective fields, are among those leaders, recognized by their peers for the important role they’ve played in advancing the specialty of hospice and palliative care.
"Rabia is a visionary leader in all senses of the word,” said Brookie Best, PharmD, MAS, dean of Skaggs School of Pharmacy. “She has been at the forefront of numerous advances in the field of palliative pharmacy and is fiercely dedicated to both her own patients and to training the next generation of palliative care pharmacists.”
“Gary’s dedication and success in training the next generation of compassionate health care providers is truly inspiring,” said Steven R. Garfin, MD, interim dean of UC San Diego School of Medicine. “His contributions to palliative care education and the broader health care community are an excellent example of UC San Diego School of Medicine’s mission in action. I am thrilled to see Gary receive this well-deserved recognition.”
Atayee is the co-founder and former president of the Society of Pain and Palliative Care Pharmacists, which advances exceptional interprofessional, patient-centered palliative care through education, advocacy, development and research. She helped develop clinical best practices for palliative care as a key stakeholder in the National Coalition for Hospice and Palliative Care’s National Consensus Project and is one of the first pharmacists in the nation to be named a Fellow of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. She was also the first pharmacist in southern California to obtain a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) license, granting her the authority to initiate controlled substances for the treatment of palliative care patients.
A national leader in pharmacist education with an emphasis on palliative care, Atayee has received numerous awards for teaching excellence and serves on the Board of Pharmacy Specialties Oncology Pharmacy Specialty Council, which sets standards and eligibility requirements for the board certification of oncology pharmacists. She also played a key role in the development of the first-ever entrustable professional activities for specialist hospice and palliative care pharmacists and is active in efforts to have the specialty recognized with board certification.
Buckholz is a former member of the Family Medicine Review Committee of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and helped establish a process for palliative care education programs to be accredited through ACGME. In the last 20 years, he has assisted in training more than 120 palliative care physicians. He was designated as a fellow of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (FAAHPM) in 2010, received CSU San Marcos’ Doris Howell Award for Advancing Palliative Care in 2018, and received AAHPM’s Gerald Holman’s Distinguished Service Award in 2021 as part of a workgroup to advance curricular development for the field.
Buckholz has also contributed substantially to training the next generation of compassionate health care providers. As codirector for the Sanford Compassionate Communication Academy Fellowship, an innovative training program that applies arts and humanities lessons to medical communication, he currently trains interprofessional faculty from UC San Diego and other health care systems.
More information on the Visionaries project, including the list of the award winners, is available on the Academy’s website aahpm.org.
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