Our Team

Katja Elbert-Avila, MD

Dr. Katja Elbert-Avila is an Associate in the Division of Geriatric Medicine at Duke University Medical Center. A graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor, Michigan, she trained in Internal Medicine at Duke University Medical Center and completed a fellowship in Geriatric Medicine at Duke. She joined the faculty in the Division of Geriatric Medicine in 2005 as a clinician-educator for geriatrics and palliative care.

Dr. Elbert-Avila’s clinical interests include inpatient and outpatient geriatric medicine, including comprehensive geriatric assessment, and end-of-life care. She attends on both the inpatient Geriatric Medicine Service and Palliative Care Service, and provides comprehensive geriatric assessments at the Duke Geriatric Evaluation and Treatment clinic.

She is the course director for “A Taste of Palliative Care,” a second year medical student selective in palliative care, and is responsible for the palliative care curriculum for geriatric and palliative care fellows. Her research interests are in end-of-life care and palliative care in geriatrics.

Selected Publications:

Galanos, AN & Elbert-Avila, K. (2004) Palliative Care in Long-Term Care: Communicating with Families. Annals of Long-Term Care; 12:26-32.

Johnson K, Elbert-Avila K, & Tulsky J. (2005) The Influence of Spiritual Beliefs and Practices on the Treatment Preferences of African Americans: A Review of the Literature. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2005;53(4):711-9.

Elbert-Avila K, Johnson KS, Kuchibhatla M, Tanis D, Tulksy JA. Predictors of Extended Prognosis in Hospice Patients with Dementia. Journal American Geriatrics Society 2005; 53(4) supplement: S9. (Oral Presentation American Geriatrics Society Meeting, Orlando, Florida, May 2005).

Elbert-Avila K, Johnson KS, Pieper C, Tanis D, Tulsky JA. How do Dementia and Cancer Patients Enrolled in Hospice Differ? Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2005; 53(4) supplement: S201. (American Geriatric Society Meeting Presidential Poster Session May 2005).