Dr. Jean Kutner​  Dr. Kutner is a Distinguished Professor of Medicine in the Divisions of GIM and Geriatrics and co-directs the T32 post-doctoral training program alongside Dr. Fischer. Dr. Kutner has been​​ developing palliative care research at the University of Colorado since her research and geriatric fellowship training (1994-1997), joining the UCSOM faculty in 1997. She was contact principal investigator for the NINR-funded Palliative Care Research Cooperative Group (PCRC) from 2010 – 2023 and is now the contact principal investigator for the NIH-funded ASCENT Consortium (Ascent Palliative Care). Her career demonstrates a commitment to enhancing the evidence base to improve care for older adults with serious illness; mentoring investigators interested in aging and palliative care research; and 3) developing research, clinical and educational programs and infrastructure aimed at improving care for older persons with serious illness. Dr. Kutner has established a highly successful aging-focused research program addressing fundamental issues in the care of persons with serious illness, increasing capacity for aging-related research locally and nationally.

Dr. Stacy Fischer is Professor of Medicine in the Division of GIM, DOM, UCSOM. Dr. Fischer co-directs the T32 post-doctoral training program alongside Dr. Kutner. Dr. Fischer has been conducting palliative care research for 20 years with a focus on improving palliative care outcomes for seriously ill adults. She developed and tested a culturally tailored patient navigator intervention designed to improve palliative care outcomes for Latinos with cancer and non-cancer serious illness, conducting a multi-site study across the state of Colorado, representing urban, rural, and mountain communities. Her ongoing research program involves clinical trials of psychedelic assisted therapy for anxiety related to a serious cancer diagnosis, in long term cancer survivorship, and older adults for chronic pain. In addition, she is conducting epidemiological studies from patients', caregivers', and physicians’ perspectives. Her work has been supported though funding from the National Institute of Aging Research (NIA), National Cancer Institute (NCI), American Cancer Society (ACS), and National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR).  Nationally, Dr. Fischer leads the consultation process for the U54 ASCENT Consortium and serves as the Science Advisor for the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Dr. Fischer has been a mentor to numerous students, post-doctoral trainees, and early and mid-career faculty. 

Dr. Hillary Lum Professor of Medicine with Tenure in the Division of Geriatric Medicine, DOM, UCSOM. Dr. Lum is a primary care geriatrician and palliative care physician researcher. Her program of research focuses on improving care for older adults with serious illness, especially persons living with dementia and their family care partners. She has used community engagement methods to develop, refine and test novel advance care planning interventions such as an Advance Care Planning Group Visit Model and patient portal advance care planning tools. She has been funded by the National Institute on Aging, including an NIA K24 Mid Career Mentorship Award. She has expertise with community engaged research methods, intervention development, clinical trials, outcomes research, and implementation science. Her work includes PI of an NIA R01 to test the efficacy of a multisite clinical trial of the ACP Group Visits intervention and multiple site PI/co-I roles on Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia studies. Dr. Lum has mentored 3 T32 awardees, multiple K awardees, serves as Co-Director of the University of Colorado CCTSI’s Clinical Faculty Scholars Program where she mentors four junior faculty health services researchers each year, and serves as Director of the Training, Education, and Mentorship (TEaM) Core at the Adult and Child Center for Outcomes Research and Delivery Science (ACCORDS). As a co-director and program faculty for the T32, Dr. Lum mentors T32 trainees interested in dementia, geriatrics, advance care planning, and conducting pragmatic palliative care research.​

Dr. David Bekelman, Professor of Medicine in the Division of GIM, DOM, UCSOM is a T32 co-director and program faculty. Dr. Bekelman’s research aims to improve quality of life in adults with chronic and advanced illnesses. He is a practicing palliative care physician who is a board-certified internist and psychiatrist. His current research tests ways to integrate palliative and psychosocial care into the ongoing care of people with heart failure and lung diseases.  He has experience with patient-oriented research and behavioral/health services intervention trials. He has also investigated spirituality and informal caregiving in chronic illness. He is currently PI on two VA Merit Review awards (R01 equivalents).  One is a multisite clinical trial of early, primary palliative care in COPD and heart failure (HSR&D IIR 14-346). The other uses a clinician-level Sequential Multiple Assignment Randomized Trial (SMART) to determine the effectiveness of clinician and patient implementation strategies to improve the occurrence of documented goals of care conversations in Veterans with serious medical illness (HSR&D IIR 14-346). Dr. Bekelman is highly regarded as a mentor, receiving the UCSOM Dean’s Master’s Mentoring Award in 2017 and the GIM Best Mentor Award in 2020.​

Heather Coats, PhD, APRN-BC, FAAN, FPCN,  Associate Professor at the College of Nursing, and Director of Palliative Care Inquiry in Department of General Internal Medicine, School of Medicine on the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, in Aurora, CO; and Director of Research for the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association (HPNA).

Dr. Coats is a well-known palliative care nurse leader who has communicated extensively through her publications, presentations and consultations with patients, families and clinicians on the importance of palliative care for individuals living with serious illness. Her program of research investigates the use of person-centered narrative interventions to improve communication between patient, family caregivers, and clinicians and has been funded by NIH and the Cambia Health Foundation. In her role at HPNA, she leads the research agenda and activities for the national organization and represents the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association as a committee member for the NASEM Roundtable on Quality Care for People with Serious Illness. She has been in numerous leadership positions and developed national/international recognition through her impact on the PC/EOL field. Internationally, she has been invited to both India and Japan to share her knowledge and expertise in PC/EOL nursing. Nationally, she was invited to the prestigious keynote at the interprofessional AAHPM/HPNA Annual Assembly to present the “State of the Science” for three years, and a subsequent invited keynote for the HPNA Clinical Practice Forum. She was the 2021 HPNA Vanguard recipient, is a Fellow in Palliative Care Nursing, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.

With a well-founded based of palliative, oncology, and hospice care spanning over 26 years, Dr. Heather Coats is sought out as a researcher, teacher, mentor, for health care professionals, serving as a resource to faculty, students and colleagues in nursing and other disciplines both in her areas of scholarship (person-centered narrative interventions) and practice (palliative care) and in areas of methodological (qualitative methods) and clinical expertise (palliative and end-of-life care) within the CON, the larger CU Anschutz Medical Campus, and beyond.  She has mentored two past NIA T32 awardee, Krista Wonderly.