Section on Palliative Care - meet our staff, Division of General Internal Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh

Charlene A. Amato MSW, BCD, LCSW, holds Bachelor and Master of Social Work Degrees from the University of Pittsburgh. Charlene has continued as a field instructor for the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Social Work for the past 22 years.

Part of Ms. Amato’s 23-year career was spent as a member of the Neuro-Oncology team at Montefiore Hospital and the Western Pennsylvania Hospital. She has been an Adjunct Faculty member of the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Social Work—teaching Death and Dying and Social Work with Groups. She was a member of the Oncology Social Work Department of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. She also facilitated Brain Tumor support groups for the Pittsburgh Cancer Caring Center for eight years. In 1999, the Association of Oncology Social Workers and The National Brain Tumor Foundation named Charlene as the National Brain Tumor Social Worker of the Year.

Charlene joined the UPMC Presbyterian Hospital Palliative Care service in 2005 as the Palliative Care Social Worker. She also is a private practice therapist with East Suburban Psychological Associates.

Robert Arnold, MD, is the Leo H. Criep Chair in Patient Care; professor of medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine; chief, Section of Palliative Care and Medical Ethics; and assistant director for education, University of Pittsburgh Center for Bioethics and Health Law. He also serves as the assistant medical director of palliative care for the Institute for Quality Improvement at UPMC Health System.

He is currently a faculty scholar on the Project on Death in America and is working to teach physician leaders how to educate peers to better communicate regarding ethical, psychosocial, and existential issues at the end-of-life. His clinical activities focus on providing palliative care consults in a tertiary care hospital and providing primary care to HIV-positive inpatients. His research activities focus on teaching ethics to residents, doctor/patient communication regarding end-of-life issues, and organ donation. He is a past president, America Society of Bioethics and Humanities.

Tamara Balliet, LSW, is the Clinical Crisis Coordinator with the Medical Ethics and Palliative Care service of Shadyside Hospital. She is a Licensed Social Worker, Certified Massage Therapist and Certified Thanatologist. She has over twenty years experience as a social worker in hospitals and hospice care. In her role at Shadyside she provides ethics consultation throughout the hospital and counseling for palliative and hospice care patients and their families. She is a board member of the Good Grief Center for Bereavement Support.

David Barnard, PhD, JD, is a Professor and in the University of Pittsburgh Center for Bioethics and Health Law where he is Director of Palliative Care Education. He is also the Director of the Institute to Enhance Palliative Care.

Dr. Barnard is an authority in the integration of the humanities into the education of health professionals. His involvement with health professions began in 1971, with three years as a Respiratory Therapist during which he became profoundly aware of the ethical, spiritual, and psychological dimensions of medical practice—subjects he has pursued ever since. He has devoted the last 25 years to teaching and writing on these subjects in academic health centers. Before coming to The University of Pittsburgh in 1999, Dr. Barnard was University Professor of Humanities and Chairman of the Department of Humanities at the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, the first Department of Humanities ever established at any medical school. He has held teaching positions at Harvard Divinity School, Northeastern University, and the Institute for the Medical Humanities at the University of Texas Medical Branch. In 1991-92 he served as President of the Society for Health and Human Values, the principal professional organization of teachers and scholars in the medical humanities.

Dr. Barnard received his B.A. from the University of Chicago, and an M.A. in Comparative History from Brandeis University. He received an M.T.S. (Master of Theological Studies) from Harvard Divinity School, and a Ph.D. in Religion and Society from Harvard University in 1980. In 2006 he received a J.D. from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.

He has published and lectured extensively on ethical issues at the end of life; suffering, meaning, and hope; hospice and palliative care; and medical education. He is the co-editor, with William R. Rogers, of Nourishing the Humanistic in Medicine: Interactions with the Social Sciences, and, with S. Kay Toombs and Ronald A. Carson, of Chronic Illness: From Experience to Policy. Crossing Over: Narratives of Palliative Care, co-authored with Anna Towers, Patricia Boston, and Yanna Lambrinidou, was published by Oxford University Press in 2000.

In 1994 Dr. Barnard organized a Humanities Advisory Group within the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. He spent the year 1994-95 on sabbatical leave to learn more about the clinical and ethical aspects of palliative care. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Palliative Medicine, and was co-chair of the National Consensus Conference on Medical Education for Care Near the End of Life in Washington, DC, May, 1997. He is Area Editor for “Death and Dying” for the 3rd edition of the Encyclopedia of Bioethics. Since 2001 Dr. Barnard has received support from the National Cancer Institute to develop an innovative palliative care curriculum for medical student education.

Marlease Bennett has been providing the Section with her legal and business office skills as an administrative assistant since May 2005. She primarily supports the Chief of the Section and assists with coordination of day-to-day activities. She acts as the point of contact for all new consults and as the liaison to outpatient clinics and the billing department. Mrs. Bennett obtained her certification in early childhood development through Carlow University and is continuing to pursue her undergraduate studies in communications/marketing.

Mamta Bhatnagar, MD, is an assistant professor of medicine in the Section of Palliative Care and Medical Ethics at the University of Pittsburgh. She received her medical education at Lady Hardinge Medical College in Delhi, India and completed an internal medicine residency at St Vincent Charity Hospital, Case Western University in Ohio. Dr Bhatnagar subsequently completed a fellowship in Geriatrics from the Cleveland Clinic and a Palliative medicine fellowship from Summa Hospital Health System in Ohio. Dr Bhatnagar has written on frailty in palliative care, weight loss in the elderly and the side effects of psychoactive medications in older adults. She is currently pursuing a Masters in Clinical Research at university of Pittsburgh and working on a research project exploring the importance of functional status to quality of life in palliative care patients. Dr Bhatnagar works at the Family Hospice Manor and covers the Palliative Care consultation services at UPMC Presbyterian, Shadyside and Magee hospitals and is starting a Geriatric consultation clinic with General Internal Medicine for cognitive impairment and frailty.

Karen Cammarata, RN, MSN, CRNP - Karen is the Nurse Practitioner and primary contact person for the inpatient palliative care service at UMPC Presbyterian and UPMC Montefiore hospitals. Karen receives the incoming calls from consulting services in the hospital to manage new consults and answer questions about symptom management. Karen earned her BSN from Villa Maria College and her Masters Degree from the University of Pittsburgh. Her professional background includes extensive experience in Hematology Oncology. Karen was one of the first nurses hired by the Pittsburgh Cancer Institute at its inception and continued to work for them for twenty-four years until she finished graduate school. Upon completion of graduate school, Karen began her career in Palliative Care at the Hillman Cancer Center Outpatient Clinic. She transferred to the Inpatient Service in December of 2006.

Elizabeth K. Chaitin, DHCE, is the director of the Medical Ethics and Palliative Care Programs Department at UPMC Shadyside. In this role, she provides ethics consultation services hospitalwide for UPMC Shadyside, evaluative services for palliative care, and direct supervision for the certified registered nurse practitioner employed within the department. Dr. Chaitin is on the faculty of the Consortium Ethics Program of the University of Pittsburgh. She is a clinical instructor in medical ethics and palliative care for the Family Practice and Internal Medicine residency services of UPMC Shadyside and in the Masters of Ethics Program of the University of Pittsburgh as well as the master and doctoral programs in Health Care Ethics at Duquesne University. She has been co-chairperson of the Bio-Medical Ethics Committee at UPMC Shadyside for the past eight years and serves as an ethics consultant for the Ethics Consultation Service for the Center for Bioethics and Health Law of the University of Pittsburgh.

Kathleen K Curran, CRNP, is the nurse practitioner with the Medical Ethics and Palliative Care Services Department at UPMC Shadyside Hospital. She joined the program in November 2005 after practicing in New York City specializing in Oncology and HIV. She is a disease-state expert on Multiple Myeloma and is a national speaker and program developer. She received her Bachelor of Science in Education from Edinboro University, her RN at St. Vincent's Hospital School of Nursing in New York City, and her Master's in Nursing at The College of Mt. St. Vincent in Riverdale NY.

Elana Manolis Gonzalez, LCSW, is the Clinical Crisis Coordinator with the Medical Ethics and Palliative Care service of Shadyside Hospital. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who received a Bachelor of Social Work degree at Chatham University and a Master of Social Work degree with a specialization in healthcare at the University of Pittsburgh. She serves on the Social Work Advisory Board at Chatham University and remains active in educating the Chatham community on the importance of social work in palliative care. In her role at Shadyside, she provides ethics consultation throughout the hospital and counseling for palliative and hospice care patients and their families.

Susan Hunt, MD, Dr. Hunt is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. She is board certified in Internal Medicine and in Palliative Care. She was graduated from Grinnell College (Iowa), the University of Washington (Seattle) Medical School, and completed her Internal Medicine residency at the University of Pittsburgh. She completed Harvard Medical School’s Program in Palliative Care Education and Practice in 2004. Dr. Hunt was a founder of the University of Pittsburgh’s clinical HIV program and has many years of experience caring for patients with life-limiting illnesses and their families. She is well-known for her expert patient care. She is a member of the Executive Committee of the Medical Staff, UPMC Presbyterian Hospital. Dr. Hunt has been recognized for her leadership in health care in Pittsburgh and was named to the Pennsylvania Honor Roll of Women. She is a fellow in the American College of Physicians. Dr. Hunt founded and heads the Palliative Care Therapy Dog program at the University of Pittsburgh.

Lisa Huntley is director of volunteer and community services for the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI). She joined UPCI in 1997 as a communications assistant and became director of volunteer and community services in 1999. Ms. Huntley is a graduate of Robert Morris College with a bachelor's degree in marketing. She is a volunteer for the American Cancer Society and founder of the Grant Channell Memorial Golf Outing, which benefits melanoma research at UPCI.

Linda A. King, MD, is an associate professor of medicine in the Section of Palliative Care and Medical Ethics and the Division of General Internal Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. She participates in the UPMC Section on Palliative Care on the inpatient consultation service and in an outpatient clinic. Dr. King completed a fellowship in palliative care at Massachusetts General Hospital. She graduated from Northwestern University Medical School in 1995 and completed a primary care medicine residency at Massachusetts General Hospital in 1998.

Kimberly H. Lewis, MBA, is the administrator for the Section of Palliative Care and Medical Ethics. In this capacity, she acts as a coordinator of ongoing projects and oversees the administrative responsibilities of the section's research and consult services. Kimberly earned her bachelor's degree from the School of Health Related Professions and a master's degree in business administration from the Katz Graduate School of Business, both from the University of Pittsburgh. Her professional background includes extensive experience in medical specialty practice management as well as a prior appointment as an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh, School of Dental Medicine-Dental Hygiene Department.

Ellen Redinbaugh, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and research instructor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She brings to the palliative care program her expertise in behavioral medicine and aging. Her clinical work addresses the stress and strain of end-of-life care as it affects patients, families, and health care professionals. Dr. Redinbaugh's research interests include stress, coping, quality of life, caregiving, and health care professionals' grief reactions. Her teaching activities include educating health care professionals and trainees about psychological issues in end-of-life care.

Tamara E. Sacks, MD, is a clinical instructor of medicine in the Section of Palliative Care and Medical Ethics and the Division of General Internal Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. She received her medical degree from George Washington University and completed her residency in internal medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Dr. Sacks then completed her fellowship in Hospice and Palliative medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine.

Andrea Scheve, MM, NMT, NICU MT, MT-BCis director of the UPMC Medical Music Therapy Program. She began the medical music therapy program in January of 2003. Since this time, she has been working extensively with the University of Pittsburgh Section on Palliative Care to provide direct patient services. Andrea is currently working on obtaining the Hospice and Palliative Care Designation in Music Therapy (HPMT) through the National Center for Music Therapy in End-of-Life Care. Andrea provides Music Therapy services to patients on both the Presbyterian Shadyside Campus and Magee-Women's Hospital of UPMC. In addition to serving as the program's administrator and developing research projects, she trains students, supervises interns, and educates the community through in-services, lectures, and presentations. Her research interests include music therapy with premature infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS). Andrea serves as the Vice President of Conference Planning for the Mid-Atlantic Region of the American Music Therapy Association (MAR-AMTA).

Rafael Sciullo, MA, LCSW, MS, is President of Family Hospice and Palliative Care (FHPC). He is chairperson of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization and has been active on their board of directors since 1997. His interest in the cultural aspects of dying led to his living and working with Hispanic and Navajo communities. He also serves on the board of the Canadian Palliative Care Association. He holds an MA from the University of San Diego, MSW from the University of Connecticut, and MS in Health Care Management from the Hartford Graduate Center.

Denise Stahl, RN, MSN, BC-PCM, is a full time Palliative Care Specialist at Magee Womens Hospital of UPMC. She is an Oncology Clinical Nurse Specialist and has experience in the oncology setting, including gynecologic oncology, bone marrow transplant, Phase 1 clinical trials, and both direct patient care and administrative roles in home health care and hospice. Her current role includes comprehensive management of symptoms to maximize quality of life and facilitating advance care planning and family decision making for patients and families who are facing end of life issues. Denise is certified as an EPEC and ELNEC trainer for nurses and physicians working in end of life care, is board certified in advanced practice palliative care nursing, and serves on the exam development committee for the National Board of Hospice and Palliative Care Certification.

Winifred G. Teuteberg, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Section of Palliative Care and Medical Ethics, Division of General Internal Medicine. She is the Medical Director of the Palliative Care Service at Magee Woman's Hospital. She also started an outpatient palliative care clinic for patients with advanced heart disease and sees outpatients in this setting. She has presented on the topic of palliative care and heart disease and has authored book chapters on the topic. She is working to develop more extensive palliative care education for cardiology fellows and is also involved in implementing an online palliative care course for medical students during their clinical rotations. Dr. Teuteberg graduated from the Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine. She completed a Palliative Care Fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and completed her Internal Medicine Residency and Medical Ethics Fellowship training at the University of Chicago.

Roberta Walk, MSW, LSW, is a clinical social worker for the Section of Palliative Care and Medical Ethics. In this capacity she provides psychosocial support and counseling to patients and families; assists with helping patients and families to be active participants in deciding on goals of care; organizes and facilitates family meetings; assists with questions regarding advance directives and/or the POLST; coordinates hospice placements and in-hospital hospice conversions, along with skilled nursing home placements with hospice services. Roberta earned her bachelor’s degree from The Pennsylvania State University, and her master’s in social work degree with a specialization in health care from the University of Pittsburgh in April 2007.

Elizabeth Weinstein, MD, graduated from University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in 2002 and completed residency training in Internal Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Education Program in 2005. She was a Chief Medical Resident from 2005-2006. She completed fellowship training in Palliative Care in 2007 during which she obtained a Masters degree from the Clinician Educator Training Program. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor in the Section of Palliative Care and Medical Ethics and the Division of General Internal Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. Clinically, she participates in the UPMC Section of Palliative Care on the inpatient consultation service and serves as a medical director for Family Hospice and Palliative Care. Her academic interests include teaching communication skills to residents, fellows and faculty.

Gordon Wood, MD, MSCI, is an assistant professor of medicine in the Section of Palliative Care and Medical Ethics and the Division of General Internal Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. He participates in the UPMC Section on Palliative Care on the inpatient consultation service and in an outpatient clinic. He also maintains a chronic non-malignant pain clinic at the UPMC Montefiore Hospital General Internal Medicine Clinics. Dr. Wood completed a fellowship in Palliative Care as well as a Masters in the Science of Clinical Investigation (MSCI) at Northwestern University. He graduated from University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine in 2002 and completed an Internal Medicine residency at University of California San Francisco in 2005. His academic interests are in communication and communication skills training. He has also written on symptom management and errors in Palliative Medicine. Dr. Wood is actively involved in education and serves as a co-facilitator for the Education on Palliative and End-of-Life Care (EPEC) project.