Skip to content
GOLTC | Globe Icon
Globe Icon
GOLTC

GLOBAL
OBSERVATORY
OF LONG-TERM
CARE

Part of the International Long-Term Care Policy Network (ILPN)

 

Katherine Pettus

International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care

Katherine Pettus

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

FURTHER INFORMATION

Countries Spain;
Topics Care inequalities; End-of-life care and LTC; Ethics and care; International Day of Care and Support; LTC Policy; Pain management in care homes;
Methods Comparative policy analysis; Discourse analysis; Legal analysis; Policy analysis; Theory and frameworks;
Role Advocacy;
Interest Groups Long-Term Care in Spain; Long-Term Care Policy; Unmet need inequalities and care poverty (UNICAP);
Websitehttp://iahpc.com
ORC.ID0000-0002-3952-9644
LinkedInhttp://linkedin.com/in/katherine-pettus-a9814b9b
Research interests

Palliative care policy in countries of all income levels. Integration of PC into LTC. Creation of a binding treaty on the rights of older persons that explicitly includes palliative care in LTC.  Faith in Palliative Care and spiritual support through serious health related suffering.
Key publications

Pettus, K. I. (2026). The Palliative Gaze: Reimagining Late Modern Citizenship Through a Palliative Ethics of Care. Development, 1-7.

Pettus, K. (2023). Structural imperialism and the pandemic of untreated pain in the Asia region. Journal of Illicit Economies and Development (JIED), 5(2), 92-100.

Rosa, W. E., Ahmed, E., Chaila, M. J., Chansa, A., Cordoba, M. A., Dowla, R., … & Pettus, K. I. (2022). Can you hear us now? Equity in global advocacy for palliative care. Journal of pain and symptom management, 64(4), e217-e226.

Pettus, K. (2022). Palliative care as Ma-space practice. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 64(6), e379-e382.

Pettus, K., & Dzotsenidze, P. (2022). The imperative of palliative care advocacy. Oxford Textbook of Public Health Palliative Care, 137.

Pettus, K., & Radbruch, L. (2023). Parallel opioid crises: brakes on sustainable development?. Palliative Care and Social Practice, 17, 26323524231176574.