Dr. Christina Puchalski is professor of medicine at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and founding director of the George Washington Institute for Spirituality and Health (GWish). She is a pioneer and international leader in the movement to integrate spirituality into health care in clinical settings and medical education. These programs and activities have encouraged the development of a patient-centered perspective. Dr. Puchalski developed the FICA spiritual history tool, which is widely used in clinical settings and is board certified in palliative care and internal medicine. She also directs an interdisciplinary outpatient supportive and palliative clinic and is a Medical Hospice Director in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Puchalski is the author of Time for Listening and Caring: Spirituality and the Care of the Seriously Ill and Dying (Oxford University Press) and co-author, with Dr. Betty Ferrell, of Making Health Care Whole (Templeton Press), based on consensus work resulting in guidelines for inter-professional spiritual care. She is also co-editor of an international textbook on spirituality and health published by Oxford University Press.