Michael W. Rabow

Michael W. Rabow, MD, FAAHPM, holds the Helen Diller Family Chair in Palliative Care and serves as a Clinical Professor of Medicine and Urology at the University of California, San Francisco. He is Associate Chief of Education & Mentoring in the Division of Palliative Medicine, Department of Medicine, and serves as Medical Director of Palliative Care in the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Rabow is also the Founding Director of the MERI Center for Palliative Care Education at UCSF/Mount Zion, functioning as the central hub for palliative care education across the UCSF enterprise and one of the leads of the UCSF Palliative Care Leadership Center (PCLC) which has trained over 1,200 palliative care programs nationwide.

Dr. Rabow received his B.A., summa cum laude in Anthropology from Harvard College (1983-1987) and his M.D. from the University of California, San Francisco (1989-1993). He completed his Primary Care Internal Medicine Internship, Residency, and Clinician-Educator Fellowship in General Internal Medicine, all at UCSF. His extensive training includes board certification in both internal medicine and hospice & palliative care.

As a national expert in outpatient palliative care research and service delivery, Dr. Rabow directs the Symptom Management Service at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, one of the largest palliative care programs in a cancer center nationally, providing outpatient palliative care co-management in more than 30 half-day clinics weekly across three UCSF campuses. His research spans palliative care, spirituality in medicine, family caregiving, and end-of-life care education, with over 100 peer-reviewed publications. He is actively involved in PCORI studies examining telemedicine for palliative care and dignity therapy for elders with cancer.

Dr. Rabow's recent publications reveal a strong focus on telehealth applications in palliative care, dignity therapy implementation, symptom management in specific cancer populations, and addressing healthcare disparities in palliative care access. His work increasingly examines the integration of palliative care into specialized oncology settings and compares different care delivery models, particularly examining the effectiveness of embedded versus standalone palliative care clinics in cancer centers.

• AAHPM PDIA National Palliative Care Leadership Award (2016)
• Hastings Center Cunniff-Dixon Physician Award (2017)
• Soros Project on Death in America Faculty Scholarship
• Robert H. Crede Award for Excellence in Teaching, UCSF
• Society of General Internal Medicine Clinician-Educator of the Year Award, California
• Multiple UCSF teaching awards including Certificate of Distinction in Teaching

Dr. Rabow serves as a consultant to medical centers nationwide and to numerous professional organizations dedicated to expanding palliative care access. He is on the advisory board to the Palliative Care Institute of the California State University at San Marcos and served as lead of the project advisory board for the 'Improving Palliative Care in the Outpatient Setting' (IPAL-OP) initiative. As Associate Editor of Current Medical Diagnosis and Treatment and executive producer of 'The Caregivers' documentary film, he has significantly impacted both medical education and public understanding of palliative care.

Dr. Rabow previously founded the UCSF/Mount Zion Hospital and Bakar Hospital Palliative Care Consultation Services and helped direct the California Hospital Initiative in Palliative Services. His ongoing work with the UCSF Palliative Care Leadership Center continues to shape national palliative care education standards, while his clinical leadership ensures high-quality palliative care services across multiple UCSF campuses.