Katherine Irene Pettus, PhD
Senior advocacy and partnerships director
As Senior Advocacy and Partnerships Director, Katherine’s role is to further the objectives of IAHPC 2025-2030 Strategic Plan. These objectives are to
- increase understanding among all relevant stakeholders about the importance of effective advocacy and the benefits of accessible palliative care,
- support IAHPC members, partners, and key stakeholders at all levels of governance in their efforts to integrate palliative care into all health systems and health systems functions,
- collaborate with key stakeholders to improve the balanced approach to and rational use of essential palliative care medications for legitimate medical needs,
- support chaplains and faith leaders to improve palliative care knowledge and practice, aligned with the GAP Essential and Expanded Palliative Care Packages.
To this end, she prepares IAHPC delegations for meetings of the United Nations organizations, collaborating with diverse networks of partners to ensure inclusion of palliative care (PC) language and availability of essential PC medicines in relevant technical documents, reports, resolutions, and political declarations. Katherine also mentors national palliative care associations to foster the sustainable leadership that will transformative PC service delivery.
Katherine developed an online advocacy course for IAHPC members, speaks at national, regional, and international conferences upon request, writes a monthly newsletter column, and engages on IAHPC social media platforms, amplifying impact where change is happening. Her inspiration comes from interacting with colleagues around the world and accompanying teams on home visits to spread the good news about their work through her writing.
Katherine holds a doctorate in Political Theory from Columbia University, a master’s degree in health law and policy from the University of California San Diego, and an Arts/Law degree from Sydney University. She has an extensive list of publications, including two books, numerous chapters in multi-author collections, and journal articles. She trained in California as a hospice volunteer in 2010, joining the Leadership Development Initiative at the Institute for Palliative Medicine in 2011, and the IAHPC in 2014.
Based in Spain, Katherine stays in touch with her adult three sons and grandchildren the US. A Benedictine oblate, she enjoys writing, art, gatherings with friends, and listening to music in her spare time.