Catalyst Grants: Sparking Innovation in Palliative Care
The Catalyst Grant Program is an internal funding initiative of the Stanford Palliative Care Center of Excellence. Designed to spark creativity, collaboration, and equity in serious illness care, Catalyst Grants provide early-stage support for bold ideas that have the potential to grow into scalable solutions.
Launched in 2025, the program empowers interdisciplinary teams to test new models, improve care experiences, and address critical gaps in palliative care. Projects explore timely issues such as grief, spiritual support, communication, and workforce development, and many center the experiences of communities historically marginalized by healthcare systems.
ELEVATE: Enhancing Serious Illness Coping and Communication
Project Lead: Keri Brenner, MD, MPA
Project Team: Danielle Chammas, MD (UCSF)
ELEVATE builds a case-based, AI-enhanced e-learning platform that helps clinicians apply psychological formulation skills to real-world patient interactions. By teaching providers to identify and respond to the emotional drivers of patient behavior, the project aims to improve empathy, reduce moral distress, and strengthen communication in complex care situations. A pilot module will launch with Stanford providers, with plans for expansion.
The Gift: A Low-Cost, Scalable Therapeutic Intervention for Caregivers Experiencing Grief in Palliative Care
Project Lead: Karleen Giannitrapani, PhD, MPH, MA
Project Team: Janani Balasubramanian, Nathaniel Coggins, MD, Cati Brown-Johnson, PhD, Emily Linderman, BCC
This creative project pilots a brief, immersive grief support experience that blends art, narrative, sound, and visual prompts to help caregivers process anticipatory and post-loss grief. Rooted in participatory design and evidence-based emotional frameworks, the experience is intentionally low-cost and scalable. The team will launch the pilot at Stanford, gather qualitative data on participant experience, and explore digital and community-based adaptations.
Piloting a Virtual Neuropalliative Elective for Neurology Trainees
Project Lead: Jocelyn Jiao, MD
Project Team: Sachi Gianchandani, Kwame Adjepong
This project develops and pilots a two-week virtual elective in neuropalliative care for neurology residents. Using telemedicine shadowing, asynchronous didactics, and real-time mentorship, the elective creates national access to specialized training in serious neurological illness. The project aims to expand the future workforce by reaching trainees beyond traditional fellowship pathways and strengthening their skills in communication, symptom management, and team-based care.
Virtual Bereavement Support Groups
Project Lead: Shaina Roberts, LCSW
Project Team: Michael Polisso, LCSW
This project launches a five-week virtual bereavement support group for individuals grieving the loss of a loved one who received care at Stanford. Facilitated by licensed clinical social workers, the group creates space for connection, emotional expression, and healing. The team will evaluate participation, satisfaction, and emotional impact, with the goal of integrating virtual bereavement support into routine palliative and end-of-life care services.
An Integrated Palliative Care Clinical Curriculum for Chaplain Fellows:
with Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship Director, Physician Fellows, and the IDT
Project Lead: Emily Linderman, BCC
Project Team: Shireen Heidari, MD, Eric Nefstead, BCC, Alan Potter, Xiaojuan Shu
This project designs and implements a structured clinical training curriculum for palliative care chaplain fellows. The curriculum emphasizes interdisciplinary collaboration and embeds fellows within the Stanford palliative care fellowship program, creating opportunities for mutual learning with physicians, nurses, and other care team members. This work strengthens the spiritual care workforce and helps institutionalize chaplain participation in serious illness care planning.
