Kathryn Walker, PharmD

Kathryn Anne Walker, PharmD, BCPS, CPE is the Assistant Vice President for Palliative Care for MedStar Health System located in the Mid-Atlantic region. She is the clinical co-leader for the health system palliative care program which includes inpatient PC consultation teams serving over 10,000 patients per year at 9 hospitals. She created the Advance Care Planning program as well as the community-based telehealth PATCH program (Palliative Telehealth Connecting to Home) she started in 2015. Dr. Walker is responsible for creating the palliative care strategy and demonstrating value within the MedStar Health system. She also collaborates on interdisciplinary research teams focused on health services research related to telehealth and appropriate medication use. She also serves as an Associate Professor at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy and also the Graduate School where she contributes to both didactic and experiential pharmacy education and teaches in the Online Masters of Science Palliative Care program. She has served as principal investigator on several grants and an invited speaker both nationally and internationally at professional conferences. She completed her Doctor of Pharmacy degree at Duquesne University and following graduation, completed one of the only specialty residencies at the time in palliative care at University of Maryland School of Pharmacy. Dr. Walker’s passion for safe and appropriate medication use includes a major focus on relief of suffering.