Serious illness creates tremendous challenges for patients and for the people around them. Palliative care expands traditional medical treatment by using an interdisciplinary structure to deliver holistic care to people with advanced disease. Our goals include optimizing patients’ symptom control and functional ability, helping with medical decision-making, and enhancing quality of life for patients and their families.
The palliative care team at Barnes-Jewish Hospital consists of a chaplain, social workers, nurse practitioners, and physicians. Each team member brings years of experience in palliative care, hospice care, and traditional medical care. Team members combine their expertise to provide comprehensive management of the physical, psychological, and spiritual issues related to a patient’s illness. We work closely with Washington University physicians and other healthcare providers to clarify goals and to coordinate workable plans of care.
Our team members include:
Patrick White, MD, PhD, HMDC, FACP, FAAHPM
Director, Division of Palliative Medicine; Associate Professor, Internal Medicine, Division of Palliative Medicine; Stokes Family Endowed Chair of Palliative & Supportive Care; VP, Chief Medical Officer, BJC Home Care. Dr. White is the director of the Palliative Medicine Division at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. He is also the chief medical officer of BJC Home Care and BJC Hospice. Dr. White earned his medical degree from the Ohio State College of Medicine and Public Health, where he was a dean’s scholar. He trained in internal medicine at Washington University and Barnes-Jewish Hospital, and he completed a fellowship in palliative medicine at the University of Pittsburgh.
He was selected as one of the inaugural “Hospice and Palliative Medicine Inspirational Leaders Under 40” by the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, and he was one of seven physician leaders selected to the inaugural Hospice Medical Director Leadership Council. Dr. White was also appointed to the Missouri Palliative Care and Quality of Life Interdisciplinary Council and has served as a technical expert panel adviser to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on improving the quality of care at end of life. He was named one of the “40 Under 40” by the St. Louis Business Journal for his leadership and service to the St. Louis community, and he is a member of the Gold Humanism Honor Society.
Daniel Paget, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine; Clinical Director, Palliative Care Services Dr. Paget is a graduate of University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine. He completed his internal medicine residency at Weill Cornell New York Presbyterian Hospital and worked as an academic hospitalist in the Northshore-LIJ hospital system. Dr. Paget joined the Washington University School of Medicine faculty in 2019 after receiving his fellowship training in hospice and palliative care at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. His areas of interest include improving the quality of care for patients at the end of life, with a focus on advanced pain management and doctor-patient communication.
Shannon Devlin, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine Assistant Professor of Medicine; Associate Program Director, Hospice & Palliative Medicine Fellowship. Dr. Devlin obtained her medical degree in 2015 from Saint Louis University School of Medicine. She completed her internship and residency in internal medicine at the University of California San Diego (UCSD). Following a year as a chief medical resident, she completed her geriatrics fellowship at UCSD in 2020 and her hospice and palliative medicine fellowship at the University of Utah in 2021. Her clinical interests include medical education, patient advocacy, and the intersection of geriatric medicine and palliative medicine, especially relating to frailty, dementia and multimorbidity.
Elyse Everett, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine Dr. Everett obtained her medical degree from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis in 2015 and her Master of Occupational Therapy from the University of Pittsburgh in 2011. She completed her residency in adult neurology in 2019 at Washington University. She is interested in the intersection between neurology and palliative care, especially the palliative care needs of patients with chronic neurodegenerative conditions, including ALS and Parkinson’s disease. Dr. Everett has recently established an outpatient neuro-palliative care clinic.
Katie O’Brien, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine Dr. O’Brien completed her undergraduate training at Indiana University and received her MD from Georgetown University. She then completed an internal medicine internship and residency at Georgetown University Hospital. She completed geriatric medicine and hospice and palliative medicine fellowships at McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University. She was previously faculty at Feinberg School of Medicine-Northwestern University School of Medicine from 2018-2023 in the divisions of geriatric and palliative medicine. Her clinical interests include frailty, palliative medicine for older adults, polypharmacy and deprescribing.
Devin Odom, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine Devin Odom, MD, is an associate professor of medicine with the Division of Palliative Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. He completed training in internal medicine at WashU in 2013 and his hospice and palliative fellowship in 2022. Dr. Odom has focused his career on communication skills education beyond residency training. He developed and directs the BJC Communication Skills Academy, which provides experiential learning opportunities for providers across Washington University School of Medicine and BJC to practice difficult conversations and advance care planning in a safe small group environment. Ongoing research is evaluating the impact of this work on provider and patient satisfaction and clinical outcomes. Dr. Odom also chairs the division of hospital medicine’s EMR efficiency task force to improve EMR workflow and streamline provider level improvements.
Erin Bakanas, MD, HMDC
Professor of Medicine, Palliative Medicine Dr. Bakanas graduated from The University of Connecticut School of Medicine in 1987. She completed a residency in internal medicine at the former Jewish Hospital of St. Louis at Washington University, and a fellowship in hospice and palliative medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. She earned a master’s degree in health care mission from The Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis. Dr. Bakanas is board-certified in internal medicine. Prior to working at Washington University and Barnes-Jewish Hospital, she was a professor of medicine and practiced general internal medicine at Saint Louis University. Her interests include health care ethics, medical business ethics and addiction medicine.
H. Michael Koller, MD
Instructor of Medicine, Internal Medicine Dr. Koller graduated from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis in 1978. He completed residency in family medicine and his fellowship in hospice and palliative medicine at the University of Kansas Medical Center. Dr. Koller is board certified in family medicine and hospice and palliative medicine.
Prior to his fellowship training in palliative medicine and joining the Barnes-Jewish palliative care team, Dr. Koller was a member of the Washington University Emergency Medicine Division, serving in the Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital Emergency Department.
James Shear, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine Dr. Shear graduated from the University of Missouri School of Medicine and completed a residency in internal medicine at The Jewish Hospital of St. Louis at Washington University. He then completed a residency in anesthesiology at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. He is board-certified in internal medicine, anesthesiology, critical care, and hospice and palliative medicine. Before his current position, he was an associate professor in the Department of Anesthesiology at Washington University for 20 years. Following this, he pursued hospice and palliative medicine full-time and was chief of palliative medicine at Virginia Health Center in Arlington, Va. His interests include advanced pain management in the terminally ill and hospice care in the inpatient setting.
Jamie Anastas, MSN, ACNP-BC, RN
Palliative Care and Hospice Nurse Practitioner Jamie received her undergraduate degree from the University of Missouri-St. Louis and graduate degree from Goldfarb School of Nursing. While working on her undergraduate degree, she worked at Barnes-Jewish Hospital as a unit secretary and patient care tech before becoming a nurse in the medical ICU. She left Barnes-Jewish to travel and eventually started working at UCSD and Northwestern Memorial for several years in critical care. Upon returning to St. Louis, she began working at Barnes-Jewish Hospital again in the surgical/trauma/burn ICU while obtaining her advanced practice degree. After graduating as a nurse practitioner, she joined the Washington University Acute & Critical Care Surgery Group for over eight years before transitioning to Barnes-Jewish Palliative Care in early 2022. Today, she specializes in our neuro-critical care unit, helping patients and families through critical illness.
Carol Gwin, MSN, ANP-BC, RN
Nurse Practitioner
Jonathan Hanson, MSN, ANP-BC, RN
Nurse Practitioner Jonathan Hanson received his undergraduate degree from the University of Missouri – Columbia and graduate degree from the University of Missouri – St. Louis. His background includes six years of experience on the bone marrow and stem cell transplant unit at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and he is a U.S. Army veteran. He has been a part of the Palliative Care Service since July 2011, and is credentialed as an adult nurse practitioner through the American Nurses Credentialing Center. Jonathan also obtained advanced certification in hospice and palliative care through the Hospice and Palliative Nurses’ Association in 2016.
Leila Othman, MSN, FNP-BC, RN
Nurse Practitioner Leila Othman earned her bachelor's degree from Chamberlain College of Nursing and her master’s degree from Maryville University of St. Louis. She started working at Barnes-Jewish Hospital as a student nurse technician in 2007 and continued to work as a registered nurse on a high-risk cardiology division for seven years. She has been a part of the palliative care team since March 2015. Leila is board-certified as a family nurse practitioner through the American Nurses Credentialing Center.
Tracee Raife, DNP, MBA, APRN, ANP-BC
Nurse Practitioner
Paige Toedebusch, ANP-BC
Palliative Care & Hospice Nurse Practitioner Paige received her bachelor’s in nursing from Maryville University and her master’s in nursing from Barnes-Jewish College Goldfarb School of Nursing. She worked for four years in inpatient gynecology oncology, where her passion for palliative care and hospice grew, before becoming a nurse practitioner. She obtained her board certification through the American Nurses Credentialing Center. She divides her time between the Barnes-Jewish Palliative Care Service and BJC Hospice. Paige’s professional interests include the individual healthcare narrative, whole person-centered care, caregiver support, and end-of-life care and education. It is her honor to be a part of the patient’s team at all stages of their health journey.
Karole Albach, RN, MSN
Outpatient Clinic Nurse Karole Albach completed her undergraduate degree in nursing at Saint Louis University in 1991 and graduate degree in holistic nursing from Jewish College of Allied Health in 2005. She has experience in ICU and emergency medicine. Over half her 30+-year career has been working with hospice. In 2021, Karole joined the palliative care team at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, supporting the Outpatient Palliative Care Clinic. Her areas of interest are acute and chronic symptom management in complex diseases – in both the inpatient and home settings – and improving day-to-day quality of life for patients and families living with chronic complex diseases.
Joshua Mazur, MSW, LCSW
Social worker Joshua Mazur earned his master’s degree in social work from Saint Louis University in 2015 with a concentration in health and mental health and specialization in gerontology. As a graduate student, Josh did practicums with the St. Louis Area Agency on Aging, BJC Hospice and the Barnes Jewish-Hospital Inpatient Palliative Care Service. Josh worked for BJC Hospice for six years. There, he gained experience in both inpatient and outpatient hospice, but most of his time was spent in the community as a field social worker in north St. Louis County. In 2019, Josh earned his license in clinical social work and his advanced certification in hospice and palliative social work form the National Association of Social Workers and the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization. In 2021, Josh transferred to Barnes-Jewish Hospital’s Inpatient Palliative Care Service
Stephanie Clark, MSW, LCSW
Social worker Stephanie Hampel has a master’s degree in social work from the University of Denver and is a licensed social worker. In addition to palliative care, she has served pediatric and adult oncology populations. She also received training in mindfulness-based stress reduction from the University of Denver.
Melissa Euler, BS
Department Manager, Hospice & Palliative Medicine Fellowship Program Coordinator Melissa Euler began her career in the healthcare industry in 2011, working as an admin for a local dental office in Illinois. There, she honed her management skills and knowledge of the healthcare world. In 2016, she began working for the Palliative Care department at Barnes-Jewish Hospital as an administrative coordinator and provided administrative support for the Inpatient Palliative Care Service and their leadership team. She aided in the creation of the Outpatient Palliative Care Clinic at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. In early 2020, Melissa also took on the role of fellowship coordinator for Washington University School of Medicine’s Hospice & Palliative Medicine Fellowship. In 2023, she moved into the role of department manager for the Palliative Care Service at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. There she, oversees the inpatient and outpatient palliative care services.
Katie Gholson, BCC, MSW, MPS
Rev. Katie Gholson is a chaplain on the palliative care team at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. She has masters’ degrees in pastoral studies from Eden Theological Seminary and in social work from Washington University in St. Louis. Prior to Barnes-Jewish, Katie worked as a staff chaplain at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, a PRN chaplain at Belleville Memorial Hospital, and as a resident chaplain at the VA St. Louis Healthcare System. She is endorsed by the United Methodist Church and is working toward board certification with the BCCI. Katie is a leader in her denomination for pastoral care and counseling and she mentors people on their journey towards ordination. Prior to chaplaincy, she served in congregational ministry for 12 years and is a teacher and caregiver.
Harry Skaletsky, MSW, LCSW
Social worker Harry Skaletsky earned his master’s degree in social work in 2018 from Washington University in St. Louis’ Brown School of Social Work with a concentration of aging in older adults. Harry obtained his clinical licensure in 2021. In addition to Palliative Care, Harry has served as an inpatient social worker in Barnes-Jewish Hospital’s psychiatric department and has also served as a BJC Hospice social worker in north St. Louis County.
For more information about Palliative Care Services at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, please call 314.747.5361.