Richard M. Allman, MD, professor and director of the UAB Center for Aging and the Birmingham/Atlanta Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center (GRECC), announces the appointment of Christine S. Ritchie, MD, MSPH, as associate professor and director of the Center for Palliative Care and GRECC investigator.

Dr. Ritchie joins UAB from the University of Louisville in Kentucky where she served in numerous positions, including associate chief of staff for the Louisville Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center's Geriatrics and Extended Care Service; assistant director of clinical research, epidemiology, and statistics training; and medical director of the VA Hospice and Palliative Care Program.

Dr. Ritchie graduated from Davidson College in North Carolina and completed her MD degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She completed an internal medicine residency at the School of Medicine at UAB, serving as chief resident. Following a geriatric medicine fellowship at UAB, Dr. Ritchie joined UAB's Department of Medicine, serving as coordinator for geriatric education and medical director of the VA Hospital-based Home Care Program and the VA Geriatric Assessment Clinic.

After obtaining a MSPH degree from UAB, she completed Harvard University's School of Public Health Clinical Effectiveness Program and served as adjunct assistant professor at Boston University School of Medicine.

Among her honors and awards, Dr. Ritchie was the recipient of the 1991 Aesculapian Award for Excellence in the Practice of Clinical Medicine, the 1998 UAB Faculty Development Award, the 2003 Provost's Exemplary Advising Award at the University of Louisville, and the 2005 National VA Mark Wolcott Award for Excellence in Clinical Care Delivery. In 2001, she was inducted into Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society.

She is a diplomate of the National Board of Medical Examiners and the American Board of Internal Medicine, with additional board certification in geriatric medicine, hospice, and palliative medicine.

Dr. Ritchie serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Evidence-based Dental Practice and is a reviewer for numerous other journals.

Her clinical interests center on advanced and complex illness care, and her current research focuses on nutrition and systems of care for patients with advanced illness.

She sees patients in the VA Home-based Palliative Care Program and serves as a consultant in palliative medicine at UAB and the VA. Dr. Ritchie can be reached at 975-8197 for academic and administrative calls: e-mail critchie@uab.edu.