Christine S. Ritchie, MD, MSPH

Contact

Christine Seel Ritchie, MD, MSPH
Associate Professor
CH19-219T
1530 3rd Avenue South
Birmingham, AL 35294-2041
Voice: 205.934.8197
Fax: 205.934.8173
Email: critchie@uab.edu

Profile

Christine Seel Ritchie, MD, MSPH was born in Jeonju, South Korea. She graduated from Davidson College in 1984 and attended medical school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1988. She completed her internal medicine residency at UAB and served as chief resident from 1991-2. In 1992, she began a 2 year geriatric research fellowship at UAB and joined the faculty in 1994, serving as director of the Geriatric Assessment Clinic and the Geriatric Block month, and as co-director of the VA Home Based Primary Care Program. She obtained an MSPH from UAB and as part of her NIA-funded career development award in 1997-8, served as a visiting professor in Geriatric Medicine at Boston University.

While in Boston, she also attended Harvard’s Clinical Effectiveness Program for clinical researchers. After relocating to the University of Louisville in 1998, Dr. Ritchie developed a VA-based Geriatric Medicine and Palliative Care Program. During her tenure in Louisville, Dr. Ritchie assumed the role of VA Hospice Medical Director, helped design and open a designated Hospice Unit, and started a Palliative Care Consult Service that now serves as a training site for residents and fellows. She served as the VA Network 9 Palliative Care Consult Team mentor, a member of VA Network 9 Health Systems Council, and as co-chair of Network 9 Geriatrics and Extended Care Committee. In addition, she worked to develop national VA policies for Hospice and Palliative Care as a member of the VA National Field Advisory Group for Hospice and Palliative Care and as the Community Outreach Workgroup Leader for the National VA Hospice and Palliative Care Initiative. Dr. Ritchie developed the Geriatrics Service at the Louisville VA Hospital and became Associate Chief of Staff for the service in March of 2003. She served as Mentorship Director for the K30 program of the University of Louisville and as the faculty liaison for the Robert Wood Johnson End of Life Training Program for residents.

In 2004, Dr. Ritchie returned to UAB as Director of the UAB Center for Palliative Care and Director of the Palliative Care Section within the Division of Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine. Her goal is to work with her colleagues to develop a preeminent palliative care program at UAB. She serves on the Steering Committee for the Southeast Center for Excellence in Geriatric Medicine and is on the Editorial Board for Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences and the Journal of Evidence Based Dental Practice.

Professional Memberships

American Association of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, Member
American College of Physicians, Fellow
American Society of Clinical Nutrition
American Geriatrics Society
IADR Nutrition Research Society, President
Gerontology Society of America

Clinical/Research Interests

Care Transitions, Frailty and Vulnerable Populations, Chronic Disease Management, Geriatric Nutrition, Palliative Medicine, Oral Health

Selected Publications

Geriatric Nutrition

Locher JL, Ritchie C, Roth DL, Baker PS, Bodner EV, and Allman RM. Social isolation, support, and capital and nutritional risk in an older sample: ethnic and gender differences. Soc Sci Med. 2005 Feb;60(4):747-61.

Locher JL, Robinson CO, Roth DL, Ritchie CS, and Burgio KL. The Effect of the Presence of Others on Caloric Intake in Homebound Older Adults. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 2005 60: 1475-1478.

McClave S, Ritchie C. The Role of Endoscopically Placed Feeding and/or Decompression Tubes. Gastroenterology Clinics of North America. 2006;35:83-100.

Ritchie CS. Obesity and Periodontal Disease. Periodontology 2000. 2007;44:154â€“163.

Geriatric Nutrition

Locher JL, Ritchie C, Roth DL, Baker PS, Bodner EV, and Allman RM. Social isolation, support, and capital and nutritional risk in an older sample:ethnic and gender differences.Soc Sci Med. 2005 Feb;60(4):747-61.

Locher JL, Robinson CO, Roth DL, Ritchie CS, and Burgio KL. The Effect of the Presence of Others on Caloric Intake in Homebound Older Adults. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 2005 60: 1475-1478.

McClave S, Ritchie C. The Role of Endoscopically Placed Feeding and/or Decompression Tubes. Gastroenterology Clinics of North America. 2006;35:83-100.

Ritchie CS. Obesity and Periodontal Disease. Periodontology 2000. 2007;44:154â€“163.

Joshipura K, Ritchie CS. Strength of Evidence Relating Periodontal Disease and Cardiovascular Disease. In: Inside Dentistry, 2006.

Enwonwu, C, Ritchie CS. Nutrition and inflammatory markers. J Amer Dental Assoc. 2007;138:70-73.

Locher JL, Roth DL, Ritchie CS, Cox K, Sawyer P, Bodner EV, Allman RM. Body Mass Index, Weight Loss, and Mortality in Community-Dwelling Older Adults. J Gerontol. Med Sci, in press.

Ritchie C, Wilcox CM, Kvale E. Ethical and Medicolegal Issues Related to PEG Placement. Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Clinics of North America. In press.

Ritchie CS, Locher JL, Roth DL, McVie T, Sawyer P, Allman R. Unintentional Weight Loss Predicts Decline in ADL Function and Life Space Mobility over Four Years among Community Dwelling Older Adults. J Gerontology Medical Sciences. In press.

Advanced Illness Care

Ritchie CS, Gohmann SF, McKinney WP. Does use of CAM for specific health problems increase with reduced access to care? J Med Syst. 2005 Apr;29(2):143-53.

Joshipura KJ, Ritchie C. Can the relation between tooth loss and chronic disease be explained by socio-economic status? Eur J Epidemiol. 2005;20(3):203-4.

Head B, Ritchie C, Smoot T. Prognostication in Hospice Care: Can the Palliative Performance Scale Help? J Palliative Medicine 2005;8:492-502.

Locher J, Bronstein J, Robinson C, Williams C, Ritchie C. Ethical Issues Involving Research Conducted With Homebound Older Adults. The Gerontologist. 2006;46:160-164.

Locher JL, Kilgore ML, Morrisey MA, Ritchie CS. Patterns and Predictors of Home Health and Hospice Utilization among Older Adults with Cancer. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2006;54(8):1206-11.

Higgins T, Ritchie CS, Stetson BA, Burke JD, Looney SW. An Examination of the Moderating Effect of Treatment with Anti-Depressants on the Association of Heart Disease with Depression in Males with Type 2 Diabetes Attending a Veterans Medical Center. Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2006 Jul 31.

Makhija SK, Gilbert GH, Boykin MJ, Litaker MS, Allman RM, Baker PS, Locher JL, Ritchie CS. The relationship between socio-demographic factors and oral health-related quality of life in dentate and edentulous community-dwelling older adults. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2006;54:1701â€“1712.

Pfeifer MP, Ritchie C, Scharfenberger J, Keeney C, Hermann C, Berwick M, Head B. The Caring Connections Project: providing palliative care to Medicaid patients with advanced cancer. Case Management. 2006;11:318-326.

Sawyer P, Bodner EV, Ritchie C, Allman RM. Pain and pain medication use in community-dwelling older adults. J Geriatr Pharmacotherapy. 2006;4:316-324.

Casarett D, Pickard A, Bailey FA, Ritchie C, Furman C, Rosenfeld K, Shreve S, Shea J. Important aspects of end-of-life care among veterans: implications for measurement and quality improvement. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. In Press.

Ahmed A, Aban IB, Vaccarino V, Lloyd-Jones D, Goff DC, Zhao J, Love TE, Ritchie C, Ovalle F, Gambassi G, Dellâ€™Italia LJ. A propensity-matched study of the effect of diabetes on the natural history of heart failure: variations by sex and age. Heart. 2007; In press.

Geriatrics/Nutrition/Palliative Care Education

Furman CD, Head B, Lazor B, Casper B, Ritchie CS. Evaluation of an Educational Intervention to Encourage Advance Directive Discussions between Medicine Residents and Patients. J Palliative Medicine. 2006; 9: 964-967.

Books and Book Chapters

Ritchie C and Thomas D: Nutrition and Aging. In: Handbook of Clinical Nutrition. Third Edition. Weinsier, Heimburger & Butterworth (Eds). C.V. Mosby, St. Louis, 1997.

Goode P and Ritchie C: Nutrition and Aging. In: Fundamentals of Clinical Nutrition. Weinsier, Morgan & Perrin (Eds). C.V. Mosby, St. Louis, 1998.

Ritchie C and Bales C. Sarcopenia and Nutritional Frailty: Diagnosis and Intervention. In: Handbook of Clinical Nutrition in Aging. Bales and Ritchie (Eds). Humana Press, 2004.

Ritchie C and Joshipura K. Oral Health and Nutrition. In: Handbook of Clinical Nutrition in Aging. Bales and Ritchie (Eds). Humana Press, 2004.

Barve S, Ritchie C and McClain C. Nutrition and Immunity. In: Handbook of Clinical Nutrition in Aging. Bales and Ritchie (Eds). Humana Press, 2004.

Furman C, Ritchie C. Nutrition and End of Life Care. In: Handbook of Clinical Nutrition in Aging. Bales and Ritchie (Eds). Humana Press, 2004.

Bales C, Ritchie C. Nutritional Needs and Assessment During the Life Cycle: The Elderly. In Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease. Shils, Olsen, Shike and Ross, 2005.

Ritchie C. Nutrition and Aging. In: Handbook of Clinical Nutrition. Third Edition. Heimburger & Ard (Eds). C.V. Mosby, St. Louis, 2006.

Ritchie C, Kvale E. Nutrition and Hydration Issues. In: Supportive Oncology and Palliative Care, Third Edition. Berger, Shuster, and Von Roenn (Eds). Lippincott, Williams, and Wilkins, Philadelphia, 2006.

Editorials

Ritchie CS, Wieland GD. Improving End-of-Life Care for Older Adults: An International Challenge J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2007;62:393-4.