Division of Clinical Care and Research

Carla S. Alexander, M.D.
Director of Palliative Care, Institute of Human Virology;
Assistant Professor of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Maryland, Baltimore
calexand@ihv.umaryland.edu

Dr. Alexander has been caring for people with HIV/AIDS since the beginning of the epidemic. She is an internationally recognized expert in the area of Palliative and End-of-Life Care. Board certified and a Fellow of the AAHPM, she has practiced hospice and palliative care since 1986 and is a founding member of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM), serving as President in 2000. She has taught elements of Palliative and End-of-Life care related to HIV/AIDS throughout the United States, Canada, Africa, Eastern and Western Europe, Ukraine, and Asia.

Dr. Alexander joined IHV in 1997 as an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Director of Palliative Care. Previously, she was Director of Clinical Affairs for Chase Brexton Health Services, Inc., a community-based facility that provided primary care for persons with HIV/AIDS. She currently serves as the International Medical Director of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization and participates in mentoring activities with the African Palliative Care Association (APCA). Her work in that area includes monitoring and evaluation of palliative care services in Africa and advocacy for provision of appropriate medications for expert palliative care.

Dr. Alexander serves as Senior Technical Advisor in Haiti and Rwanda where she teaches management of HIV/AIDS and the integration of palliative care through the AIDS Relief Consortium funded by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

She has authored or edited many publications including chapters on palliative care in A Guide to the Clinical Care of Women with HIV, A Clinical Guide to Supportive and Palliative Care in HIV/AIDS, A Guide to Primary Care of People with HIV/AIDS 2004 ed, and Clinical Challenges in HIV/AIDS. She was a Primary Author Co-Chair of the working group for a Promoting Excellence in End-of-Life Care project entitled Integrating Palliative Care into the Continuum of HIV Care: an agenda for change/ Recommendations to the Field. She is the recipient of numerous honors/awards including the Lifesongs (Community Fundraiser for HIV Services) First Humanitarian Award in Baltimore, Md.

Dr. Alexander was a Department of Medicine representative to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation End-of-Life Education Project directed by David Weissman, M.D., to improve residency training in end-of-life care and now team-teaches a University of Maryland School of Medicine required course for third year medical students on hospice and palliative care. As a member of the core faculty, she has participated in design of this educational program in addition to developing a web-based teaching site for interns at the University of Maryland Medical Center. Dr. Alexander lectures in multiple venues for medical and other professional schools on the Baltimore campus.