Christine Ritchie

Christine Ritchie, MD, MSPH, is a board-certified geriatrician and palliative care physician at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), where she serves as the Kenneth L. Minaker Endowed Chair in Geriatrics and Director of Research for the Division of Palliative Care and Geriatric Medicine. She leads the Mongan Institute Center for Aging and Serious Illness and co-chairs the NIA-funded Bridge the Gap T32 program, focusing on the homebound population. Her research spans quality-of-life optimization for individuals with chronic serious illness and multimorbidity, integrating methods from intervention design, implementation science, population health, and health policy.

• Primary Affiliation: Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)
• Leadership Roles: Director of Research, Mongan Institute Center for Aging and Serious Illness
• Key Collaborations: Harvard Center for Palliative Care Steering Committee

Research Themes: Her work emphasizes qualitative studies on dementia care, chronic pain, telehealth disparities, caregiver stress, AI-driven diagnostics, and post-surgery outcomes for older adults. Recent publications highlight financial burdens in dementia, mindfulness interventions, and virtual care equity.

Scientific Leadership: Ritchie pioneers tools for family engagement, electronic frailty indices, and digital phenotyping, with a focus on underserved communities. She actively works to improve home-based primary care and communication in palliative care across linguistic and racial disparities.