Karl Lorenz

Dr. Karl Lorenz, MD MSHS is a general internal medicine and palliative care physician, and Section chief of the VA Palo Alto-Stanford Palliative Care Program. Formerly at the VA Greater Los Angeles, Dr. Lorenz directed palliative care research at the VA Center for Innovation to Implementation and served on the faculty at the UCLA School of Medicine. Dr. Lorenz is a member of the VA’s national Hospice and Palliative Care Program (HPC) leadership team, director of the operational palliative care Quality Improvement Resource Center (QuIRC), and adjunct facility staff member at RAND. Dr. Lorenz’s work and leadership has been influential to the field of palliative care research. Under Dr. Lorenz’s leadership, since 2009 the Quality Improvement Resource Center (QuIRC) has served as one of three national leadership Centers responsible for strategic and operational support of the VA’s national hospice and palliative care programs. QuIRC develops and implements provider facing electronic tools for the VA’s national electronic medical record to improve the quality of palliative care. In that role, Dr. Lorenz participates with the national leadership team in strategic planning, policy development, and providing resources to support operational efforts. Dr. Lorenz has contributed to the field of global palliative care, serving the World Health Organization in its development of Palliative Care for Older People and leading methods for Palliative Care Essential Medications.