The department of medicine is pleased to announce the appointment of Anne M. Walling, MD, PhD, as Director of Palliative Care Research for the Department of Medicine at UCLA and VA Greater Los Angeles (VA GLA). In this new role, she will lead the growth and collaboration of palliative care research across UCLA and VA GLA. Dr. Walling will be integral to bridging this important work across the department and establishing opportunities for collaboration with faculty and trainees across both institutions to engage in innovative research that influences care and policy nationally. 

Dr. Walling is an associate professor of medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research at UCLA, a core investigator at the VA Center for the Study of Healthcare Innovation, Implementation, & Policy (CSHIIP), and a consulting researcher at RAND Health. She is also the assistant medical director of UCLA Health’s Advance Care Planning program and a palliative care physician. Her research focuses on palliative care quality measurement and stakeholder-partnered implementation studies with the goal of improving evidence-based care for patients with serious illness.  Her work with quality measures has led in part to the National Quality Forum’s endorsement for RAND's end of life quality indicators.  She was recently named a fellow of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM) and is a Sojourns Scholar Leadership Program grantee (Cambia Health Foundation).  She is PI and co-PI for grants and contracts from federal and non-federal sources including the Department of Veterans Affairs, Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), the California Healthcare Foundation, and has served as co-investigator on several other awards including from the National Institute of Health.