Palliative Medicine Fellowship
Faculty
Marshfield Clinic has approved palliative medicine as a specialty, and all four faculty are specialty-trained, three in fellowships and one in an advanced degree program. All faculty are ABHPM board certified or eligible. Institutional support is evidenced by salary support of 50% for Medical Director, 30% for Hospice Medical Director, and 50% for Palliative Medicine Fellowship Program Director. The core palliative medicine team includes nurses, social worker, chaplain, secretary, volunteers, dietician and discharge planning nurse. Interventional pain physicians assist frequently. Other participating disciplines include occupational therapy, physical therapy, psychiatry, clinical psychology, speech pathology, massage therapy, and pet
therapy dogs.
 | Tomasz R. Okon, M.D.Program Director, Palliative Medicine Program Dr. Okon joined the palliative medicine program and Marshfield Clinic in August 2002, having completed his Fellowship in General Internal Medicine / Palliative Medicine track at the University of Virginia. He has been active in research, particularly the development of a symptom assessment tool, and is very interested in database development for palliative medicine. He is a contributor to Up To Date Electronic Textbook with a chapter on Patient Evaluation in Palliative Care. He also maintains scholarly interest in theology and is currently developing his ideas on suffering in medicine. |
 | Michael T. Claessens, M.D., M.S.Department Chair, Palliative Medicine Program Dr. Claessens came to Marshfield in January 1999 specifically to start the palliative medicine program. He has fellowship training in both General Internal Medicine and Palliative Medicine. During his GIM Fellowship at Dartmouth, he participated in research on the Study to Understand Prognoses and Preferences for Outcomes and Risks of Treatments (SUPPORT),
as well as beginning his clinical palliative medicine training at the Royal Victoria Hospital Palliative Care Service in Montreal. He then spent eighteen months in a Palliative Medicine Fellowship at the University of Ottawa Institute of Palliative Care, from which he came to Marshfield. Since coming to Marshfield he has started a successful palliative medicine program at Saint Joseph's Hospital and Marshfield Clinic. |
 | Kathy Jo (KJ) Williams, M.D.Attending Physician, Palliative Medicine; Medical Director, Ministry Home Hospice of Marshfield Dr. Williams joined Marshfield Clinic as a palliative medicine specialist and as medical director of Ministry Home Hospice at Saint Joseph's Hospital, Marshfield. Dr. Williams earned her medical degree from the UW Madison School of Medicine and Public Health. She completed her residency at St. Luke's Family Practice, Milwaukee, and a palliative medicine fellowship at Marshfield Clinic/Saint Joseph's Hospital. She is a member of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, American Association of Family Physicians, Wisconsin Association of Family Physicians and Wisconsin Medical Society. |
 | John P. Przybylinski, M.D.Attending Physician, General Internal Medicine and Palliative Medicine Dr. Przybylinski is our senior physician. He is a very experienced internist, highly respected and in practice at Marshfield Clinic since 1985. He has been Hospice Medical Director since 1994. In 2002, he completed a one year Diploma in Palliative Medicine degree program through the University of Wales College of Medicine. He brings to the program palliative medicine knowledge and perspective from the United Kingdom, a keen working knowledge of hospice, and a wealth of experience as a general internist. |
