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CURRICULUM VITAE

Katherine A. Recka MD
Associate Professor
Department of Medicine
Division of Geriatric and Palliative Medicine

OFFICE ADDRESS:
VA Medical Center
5000 W National Ave
Milwaukee, WI 53295

EDUCATION:
09/1996 - 12/2001 B.A., University of Wisconsin, Madison
08/2002 - 05/2006 M.D., Medical College of Wisconsin
2010 Graduate of University of Michigan Faculty Development Institute, University of Michigan
08/2012 - 09/2013 Macy Faculty Scholars Program
08/2018 - 05/2019 VA LEAD leadership development course

POSTGRADUATE TRAINING AND FELLOWSHIP APPOINTMENTS:
07/2006 - 06/2010 Resident, Combined Internal Medicine and Pediatrics Program, Medical College of Wisconsin and Affiliated Hospitals, Milwaukee, WI
07/2010 - 06/2011 Fellow, Hospice and Palliative Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

FACULTY APPOINTMENTS:
08/2011 - Present Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI

ADMINISTRATIVE APPOINTMENTS:
09/2014 - Present Section Chief, Section of Palliative Medicine, Department of Medicine, Clement J. Zablocki VA, Milwaukee, WI

EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE APPOINTMENTS:
10/2011 - Present Assistant Fellowship Program Director. Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship

HOSPITAL STAFF PRIVILEGES:
08/2011 - Present Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital, 9200 W Wisconsin Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53226
08/2011 - Present Clement J. Zablocki Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 5000 W. National Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53295

SPECIALTY BOARDS AND CERTIFICATION:
Board Certified
Issue DateExpiration
American Board of Internal Medicine
08/2010
12/2020
Diplomate, American Board of Pediatrics
10/2010
12/2020
Hospice and Palliative Medicine
10/2012
12/2022
Hospice Medical Director
07/2014
10/2020
   
Certificates
Issued By Issue DateExpiration
BLS
AHA
08/2002
06/2022
    

Licensure
Number Issue DateExpiration
Wisconsin
51724-020
10/2007
10/2021
    

MEMBERSHIPS IN HONORARY AND PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES:
07/2006 - Present American Association of Pediatrics (Member)
07/2009 - Present American College of Physicians (Member)
08/2010 - Present American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (Member)
04/2020 - Present Wisconsin Health Professionals for Climate Action (Member)

EDITORSHIPS/EDITORIAL BOARDS/JOURNAL REVIEWS:
Journal Review
08/2012 - Present Journal of Palliative Medicine
08/2012 - Present Wisconsin Medical Journal
Ad-Hoc Reviewer
08/2017 - Present AAHPM Annual Assembly

LOCAL/REGIONAL APPOINTED LEADERSHIP AND COMMITTEE POSITIONS:
12/2012 - Present Chair, VA Bereaved Family Survey Committee Founding chair of the VA BFS committee evaluating the Bereaved Family quality measures, a 19 item scale sent to all families of veterans who die inpatient in a VA facility. The Committee focuses on strategizing improvements across care settings and facilitating implementation of both unit based and hospital wide quality improvement projects
07/2017 - Present Co Chair, VA Life Sustaining Treatment Decisions Committee Founding chair and key physician member of the LSTD committee which was a nationally mandated project to improve access to and quality of standardized goals of care discussions and documentation of veteran wishes for life sustaining care.

INVITED LECTURES/WORKSHOPS/PRESENTATIONS:
Regional
Katherine Recka, Ann Catlett, Suffering Beyond the Basics, Complex Symptom Management, Great Lakes Palliative Care Conference, Milwaukee, WI, 04/2012
Katherine Recka, Ann Catlett, Challenging Topics in Palliative Care: Beyond the Basics, “Nausea, Vomiting and Constipation”, Great Lakes Palliative Care Conference, Lake Geneva, WI, 05/2013
Katherine Recka, Ryan Tomlinson, Advanced Directives, National Med Peds Resident Association Conference, Milwaukee, WI, 09/2013
Katherine Recka, Geriatric Pain Management, Wisconsin Geriatrics Board Review, Delavan, WI, with repeats 09/2015, 09/2017 and 09/2019, 09/2013
Katherine Recka, Updates in Advanced Directives, MCW Winter Refresher Course, Oconomowoc, WI, 02/2014
Katherine Recka, Updates in Advanced Directives, Wisconsin Association of Physician Assistants, Wisconsin Dells, WI, 04/2014
Katherine Recka, Challenging Topics in Palliative Care: Beyond the Basics, Table Talk: The non-Adherent patient, Great Lakes Palliative Care Conference, Lake Geneva, WI, 05/2014
Katherine Recka, Rosemary Stetzer, Trajectory, The Hospice and Palliative Nurse Association Review, Milwaukee, WI with repeat presentation 08/2015, 08/2014
Katherine Recka, The Care of Veterans at End of Life, Great Lakes Palliative Care Conference, Lake Geneva, WI, 04/2015
Katherine Recka, Managing Neuropathic Pain, Bellin Health Education Series, Green Bay, WI, 04/2015
Katherine Recka, Care of Veterans at End of Life, Hospice and Palliative Nurse Association Meeting, Milwaukee, WI, 05/2016
Katherine Recka, Care of Veterans at End of Life, Hospice and Veterans Partnership Meeting, Milwaukee, WI, 06/2016
Katherine Recka, Palliative Care in End Stage Rental Disease, Vascular Access Symposium, Milwaukee, WI, 08/2016
Katherine Recka, Rosemary Stetzer, Prognostication at End of Life, Hospice and Palliative Nurse Assocation, Review Course, 08/2016
Katherine Recka, Don Weir, Hospice Foundation of America, Discussion Panel, Milwaukee, WI, 11/2016
Katherine Recka, Care of Veterans at End of Life, Rainbow Hospice Care Conference, Pewaukee, WI, 03/2017
Katherine Recka, Sarah Rogers, Wisconsin Hospice and Veteran Partnership, presentation panel on Concurrent Care, Milwaukee, WI, 11/2018
Katherine Recka, Myths and Misperceptions, of Hospice, Ovation Milwaukee Jewish Home Legacy, Estate and End of Life Planning Series, 05/2019
Alex Bear, Katherine Recka, Kern Kinetic K3 Capstone, Utilization of the DISC Assessment Tool to Elucidate Communication Styles in an Effort to Improve Communication Skills and Resiliency for Medical Providers and Trainees, Milwaukee, WI, 06/2019
 
Local
Katherine Recka, Matthew Ehrhardt, Guide to passing the Boards, Med-Peds Residency Retreat, Elkhart Lake, WI, 02/2012
Katherine Recka, Palliative Care at the VA, Clement J. Zablocki VA Grand Rounds, Milwaukee, WI, 12/2012
Katherine Recka, Palliative Care 101, Community Colorectal Support Group, Milwaukee, WI, 05/2013
Katherine Recka, QI at the VA: Medical College of Wisconsin, Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Course, Milwaukee, WI, 09/2013
Katherine Recka, Neuropathic Pain, Clement J. Zablocki VA Grand Rounds, Milwaukee, WI, 06/2015
Katherine Recka, Prognosis, yearly VA multidisciplinary fellowship lecture, Milwaukee, WI, 09/2015 - Present
Katherine Recka, Pain Management, Clement J. Zablocki VA Pain Education Symposium, Milwaukee, WI, 09/2017
Katherine Recka, Pain Management with Opioids, Clement J Zablocki VA Nursing Grand Rounds, Milwaukee, WI, 08/2018
Katherine Recka, Hospice in an Age of Hope, Department of Medicine Grand Rounds, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, 12/2018
Katherine Recka, Hospice Concurrent Care, Hematology Oncology Grand Rounds, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, 08/2019
 

PEER REVIEWED WORKSHOPS/PRESENTATIONS:
National
Recka, K., Montagnini, M., Management of Bleeding in Malignant Fungating Wounds., Poster Presentation National Meeting American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, Denver, CO, 03/2012
Nickoloff, S., Recka, K., K. Quality Improvement in the ICU:, Using Palliative Care Triggers Checklist. Poster Presentation National Meeting. Center to Advance Palliative Care, Miami, FL (Fellowship QI mentorship collaboration), 11/2012
Nickoloff, S., Recka, K., K. Quality Improvement in the ICU:, Using Palliative Care Triggers Checklist. Poster Presentation National Meeting., SGIM Denver, CO (Fellowship QI mentorship collaboration), 04/2013
Recka, K., Marks, S., Quality Improvement by Committee:, Unit based end of life care initiatives. Oral Presentation for Center to Advance Palliative Care, Orlando, FL, 11/2014
Lu, Karrie, Recka, K., Improving Handoffs of Inpatient Palliative Care Patients, Oral Presentation for Center to Advance Palliative Care, Orlando, FL (Fellowship QI mentorship collaboration), 11/2014
 

COMMITTEE SERVICE:
Medical College of Wisconsin
07/2012 - 05/2017 Member, Planning Committee for Great Lakes Palliative Care Conference
07/2013 - Present present Member, Pediatric Residency Committee, now Clinical Competency Committee and Program Evaluation Committees
07/2013 - Present present Member, Palliative Fellowship Clinical Competency Committee and Program Evaluation Committees
08/2016 - Present present Member, Medical College of Wisconsin Admissions Committee
01/2020 - Present present Member, subcommittee on applicant screening
 
Hospital
08/2011 - Present current Member, VA Integrated Ethics committee, CLEMENT J. ZABLOCKI VA
06/2012 - Present current Member, Palliative Care Resource Professionals, CLEMENT J. ZABLOCKI VA
08/2018 - Present present Member, VA Zablocki Rounds/Schwartz Rounds committee, Founding physician member of Zablocki VA approach to Schwartz Rounds, an internationally disseminated approach to discussions focused on provider support, moral distress and burnout., CLEMENT J. ZABLOCKI VA
03/2020 - Present present Member, VA Scarce Resource Allocation Committee, Palliative medicine representative for COVID-19 related scarce resource utilization, CLEMENT J. ZABLOCKI VA
 

MCW TEACHING ACTIVITIES:
Medical Student Education
2006 - 2009 Preceptor, Clinical Evaluation and Reasoning Course, Medical College of Wisconsin
2012 M4 Team Based Learning Facilitator
06/2014 Transition to Clerkship: Pain Management
08/2014 Foundations of Clinical Medicine: 1st year interview class
2014 Winter Intersession on Professionalism
01/2019 - Present M1 Healers Art
 

EXTRAMURAL TEACHING:
Resident and Fellow Education
05/2012 - 05/2018 Palliative Fellowship Lecture Series, Scales 101 yearly
08/2012 Dept of Medicine Core Skills, DNR
10/2012 Med Peds Residency Conference, Advanced Directives
01/2013 ObGyn Residency Lecture Series, Palliative Care 101
04/2013 - Present Palliative Fellowship Lecture Series, PC at the VA
08/2013 Internal Medicine Academic Half Day, Advanced Directives
08/2013 Internal Medicine Academic Half Day, Non-Pain Symptom Management
09/2013 Palliative Fellowship Lecture series, The Bereaved Family Survey
10/2016 Nephrology Fellow Lecture, Palliative Care in End Stage Renal Disease
03/2020 Palliative Fellowship Lecture Series, Fellows as Teachers
 

MCW STUDENTS, FACULTY, RESIDENTS AND CLINICAL/RESEARCH FELLOWS MENTORED:
Residents
08/2011 - 08/2012 Archna Eniasivam, MD, Internal Medicine and Pediatrics Advisor, MCW
10/2012 - 06/2015 Ryan Tomlinson, MD, Internal Medicine and Pediatrics Advisor, MCW
07/2016 - 07/2018 Sona Cote, MD, Internal Medicine and Pediatrics Advisor, MCW
07/2018 - 08/2019 Daniel Otterson, MD, Internal Medicine and Pediatrics Advisor, MCW
 
Faculty
07/2019 - 06/2020 Adrienne Klement, MD, Capstone Project Advisor, MCW, Kern Institute Kinetic Academy
 

EXTRAMURAL STUDENTS, FACULTY, RESIDENTS, AND CLINICAL/RESEARCH FELLOWS MENTORED:
Clinical/Research Fellows
2011 - 2012 Sarah Nickoloff, MD, Fellowship Quality Improvement Advisor, Associate Prof of Medicine Medical College of WI Associate Division Chief Clement J Zablocki VA Milwaukee, WI, Palliative Care Consults in the ICU: A QI trigger project • Improved communication between RNs and ICU MDs • Poster presentations CAPC and SGIM
2012 - 2013 Alexis Williams, MD, Fellowship Quality Improvement Advisor, Hospice and Palliative Physician JourneyCare Glenview, IL, Palliative Care Note Templates: VA and Froedtert • Standardized notes across inpatient and outpatient • Standardized ROS and history for accurate billing and coding • Multidisciplinary collaborative project
2013 - 2014 Karrie Lu, MD, Fellowship Quality Improvement Advisor, Hospice and Palliative Specialist Aurora Health Care Milwaukee, WI Milwaukee, WI, Improving Handoffs in Palliative Care • Year long study including iterative PDSA cycles resulting in standardized templates • Poster presentation at CAPC
2014 - 2015 Sam Maiser, MD, Fellowship Quality Improvement Advisor, Neurology and Palliative Medicine Specialist Hennepin Healthcare Minneapolis, MN, Outpatient Palliative Care Clinic Analysis of "No-Shows" • Reviewed EPIC data and interviewed providers • Created provider brochure for patients and families to improve familiarity with concept of Palliative Care and to improve recognition of providers
2015 Melissa Atwood, DO, Fellowship Quality Improvement Advisor, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics Medical College of Wisconsin Milwaukee, WI, Improving access to information on pediatric hospice and palliative resources. • Interviewed providers and social workers at Children’s Wisconsin • Interviewed WI hospice agencies • Curated list of palliative resources in WI hospice agencies
2015 - 2016 Renee Foutz, MD, Fellowship Quality Improvement Advisor, Assistant Professor Emergency Medicine Medical College of WI Milwaukee, WI, Assessment of Palliative Care Training Needs Among Emergency Medicine Residents • Interviewed EM residents and teaching faculty • Curated palliative resources including new lectures • Dr. Foutz continues this lecture series currently
2017 - 2018 Francois Blumenfeld Kouchner, DO, Fellowship Quality Improvement Advisor, Hospice and Palliative Specialist Aurora Health Care Grafton, WI, Management of Heart Failure in Hospice Patients • Interviewed local hospice agency RNs • Disseminated information about heart failure evaluation and management specific to Medicare Hospice guidelines
2018 - 2019 Elizabeth Bukowy, DO, Fellowship Quality Improvement Advisor, Assistant Professor of Medicine Medical College of WI Milwaukee, WI, VA Comfort Care Order Set • Worked with Palliative faculty and staff and IM residents on needs assessment and best practice • Collaborated with VA IT to develop and disseminate order sets based on unit needs
2019 - 2020 Ryan Jozwiak, MD, Fellowship Quality Improvement Advisor, Palliative Medicine Specialist Hennepin Healthcare Minneapolis, MN, Palliative Care Role in Advance Heart Failure Technologies • Reviewed current data around AHF technologies • Palliative faculty and staff needs assessment • Collaborated with palliative faculty on a Fast Fact publication
2020 - Present Lara India, MD (Current fellow), Fellowship Quality Improvement Advisor, Current Fellow, tbd: plan for education in pain interventions • needs assessment for Palliative and Oncology Froedtert inpatient teams • Needs assessment from Anesthesia Pain and IR teams • Development of resources around better understanding pain interventions at Froedtert/MCW
 

PROGRAMMATIC DEVELOPMENTS:
 
 
Clinical Programs
08/2011 - Present Zablocki VA Palliative Medicine: • Expanded providers including addition of physician provider FTEs and an additional ½ time position for our Hospice and Palliative Care Unit NP
• Led with continuous quality improvement through both the Bereaved Family Survey Committee as well as the Life Sustaining Treatment Decisions Committee
• Standardized Hospice and Palliative Care Unit admissions
• Developed and implemented outpatient Palliative clinic
• Developed and implemented VA Virtual Connect (VVC) Palliative clinic. VVC is a nationally supported initiative using veterans’ existing smart phone technology to connect with VA providers
• Expanded inpatient consult service with consistent growth over last 10 years
 
 


BIBLIOGRAPHY
Refereed Journal Publications/Original Papers
1. Recka, K., Montagnini, M., Vitale, C. Management of Bleeding in Malignant Fungating Wounds. Journal of Palliative Medicine. Vol. 15, No. 8, August 2012: 952-954
2. Jozwiak, R, Recka, K. Fast Facts and Concepts #386. The Anorexia-Cachexia Syndrome: Definitions, Evaluation, and Non-Pharmacological Management. Journal of Palliative Medicine, accepted pending publication.
 
Non-Refereed Journal Publications/Original Papers
1. Recka, K. Make it the the Mat. Kern Transformational Times Newsletter. 5/29/2020. https://transformational-times-blog.blogspot.com