Michael W. Rabow, M.D.

Professor of Clinical Medicine Attending Physician, General Medicine Practice, UCSF/Mount-Zion

Education and Training

• Medical School: University of California, San Francisco
• Residency: Moffitt Primary Care Internal Medicine, UCSF
• Fellowship: General Medicine Fellow, Division of General Internal Medicine, UCSF

Areas of Interest

• End of life care
• Depression
• Professional Development/Training
• Existential and spiritual issues in medicine

Dr. Rabow conducts research in palliative care and professional development. He conducted one of the only controlled trials to date of outpatient palliative care. He has studied palliative care consultation and the end-of-life content of best-selling medical textbooks. He is former Director of Behavioral Medicine Training for the Primary Care Residency Program at UCSF/Mount Zion and has lectured on communication and end-of-life care nationally and internationally. Dr. Rabow is an assistant editor for a bimonthly section in JAMA entitled "Perspectives on Care at the Close of Life." He is the director of curriculum for the UCSF Palliative Care Leadership Center and formerly co-led the California Hospital Initiative in Palliative Services. As a Faculty Scholar in the Soros Foundation Project on Death in America and a UCSF Fellow in Medical Education Research, Dr. Rabow is currently researching the hidden curriculum in end-of-life care training at UCSF medical school. He is now actively developing programs in symptom management and support for patients with cancer and their family caregivers.

Recent Publications

Rabow MW, Dibble SL, Pantilat SZ, McPhee SJ. The Comprehensive Care Team: a controlled trial of outpatient palliative medicine consultation. Arch Intern Med. 2004;164:83-91.

Rabow MW, Hauser JM, Adams J. Supporting family caregivers at the end of life: "They don't know what they don't know." JAMA. 2004:291;483-491.

Rabow MW, Dibble SL. Ethnic differences in pain among outpatients with terminal and end-stage chronic illness. Pain Medicine. 2005;6:235-241.

Remen NR, Rabow MW. The Healer's Art: Professionalism, Service and Mission. Med Educ. 2005;39:1172.

Homes SM, Rabow MW, Dibble SL. Screening the soul: communication regarding spiritual concerns among primary care physicians and seriously-ill patients at the "beginning of the end of life." Amer J Hospice Palliat Med. In Press.

Pantilat SZ, Rabow MW, Citko J, vonGunten CF, Auerbach AD, Ferris FD. Evaluating the California Hospital Initiative in Palliative Services (CHIPS). Arch Intern Med. In Press.