David S.
Wu, MD
Chief, Pain and Palliative Care Consultation Service
301-594-9766
Dr. David Wu leads the Pain and Palliative Care Consultation Service at the NIH Clinical Center. His interests include integration of the arts in healthcare, community codesign and clinical excellence.
BA, Yale University
MD, Baylor College of Medicine
Dr. Wu earned a BA in English from Yale University, an MD from the Baylor College of Medicine, and completed Internal Medicine residency and Palliative Medicine fellowship at the University of Washington. He has practiced as a general internist, hospice physician and palliative care physician.
After serving as senior medical director of a hospice in Maryland, where he led an interdisciplinary clinical team that covered two counties and multiple regional hospitals, Dr. Wu became director of the Palliative Care Program at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. During his several-year tenure, he developed a clinical and academic program that became nationally recognized for clinical excellence, innovative education, cross-institutional research, and a systematic approach to wellness centered on the arts. He also co-founded and led the Palliative Interprofessional Collaborative for Action Research (PICAR), which spanned schools and professions across Johns Hopkins. Multiple PICAR projects used a community codesign approach to address health disparities in palliative care.
His academic interests include the innovation and implementation of the 3-Act Model, a narrative approach to goals of care conversation; creative thriving; community codesign; and clinical excellence.
- Circle of Life Award, American Hospital Association, 2023
- Innovations in Clinical Care Award, Johns Hopkins Medicine, 2022
- Outstanding Educational Program Award, Johns Hopkins Institute for Excellence in Education, 2022
- Department of Medicine Award, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, 2021
- Sojourns Scholar Leadership Award, Cambia Health Foundation, 2019
- Hearst American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine Leadership Scholars Award, 2018
- Fellow, American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, 2018
Wu DS, Harding CD, Lombard FM. Window Treatment—Bringing Art and Joy to Hospital Rooms [published online: January 25, 2024]. JAMA. doi:10.1001/jama.2023.28102
Chatterjee S, Roberts B, Ahluwalia AK, Wright S, Wu DS. Integrating narrative goals of care in the MICU: impact on educational and clinical outcomes [published online August 22, 2022]. ATS Scholar. doi:10.34197/ats-scholar.2022-0003IN
Wu DS, Mehta AK, Brewer CB, Sloan D, Dy SM, McPherson ML, Dahlin C. Defining clinical excellence in palliative care: a concept whose time has come [published online: Jan 19, 2022]. Am J Hospice Palliat Med. https://doi.org/10.1177/10499091211073968
Roberts B, Mehta AK, McWhirter M, Dy SM, Wright SM, Wu DS. Narrative approach to goals of care discussions: adapting the 3-Act Model training to an online format [published online February 12, 2021]. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2021.02.009
Dy SM, Waldfogel JM, Sloan DH, Cotter V, Hannum S, Heughan J, Chyr L, DeGroot L, Wilson R, Zhang A, Mahabare D, Wu DS, Robinson KA. Integrating Palliative Care in Ambulatory Care of Noncancer Serious Chronic Illness. Comparative Effectiveness Review No. 237. (Prepared by the Johns Hopkins University Evidence-based Practice Center under Contract No. 290-2015-00006-I.) AHRQ Publication No. 21-EHC002. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; February 2021. DOI: 10.23970/AHRQEPCCER237
Nelson KE, Wright R, Fisher M, Koriala B, Roberts B, Sloan DH, Wu DS, Davidson PM. A call to action to address disparities in palliative care access: a conceptual framework for individualizing care needs [published online: Oct 7, 2020]. J Palliat Med. https://doi.org/10.1089/jpm.2020.0435
Roberts B, Wright SM, Dy SM, Wu DS. Narrative approach to goals of care discussions: assessing use of the 3-Act Model in the clinical setting [published online June 26, 2020]. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2020.06.017
Wu DS, Kern DE, Dy SM, Wright SM. Narrative approach to goals of care discussions: a novel curriculum. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2019;58(6):1033-1039.e1. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2019.08.023
Wu DS, Wright SM. Clinical excellence in palliative care. Am J Hosp Palliat Med. 2018;35(8):1037-1042. doi:10.1177/1049909117748882
Wu D. Virtual grief. JAMA. 2012;308:2095-2096.
Wu D. Beyond the numbers. JAMA. 2009;301:1860.
Wu DS. A glimpse backstage. JAMA. 2006;295:1979-1980.