Kathleen Klink, M.D., FAAFP

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Kathleen Klink, MD, FAAFP
Personal Narrative — February 2026
Having retired from my physician roles in clinical practice, academic positions, health policy and public service, my priorities have shifted. I completed the Contemplative Medicine fellowship at the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care (NYZCCC) in 2023-24 followed by two semesters, also under the auspices of NYZCCC studying Clinical Pastoral Education. I found supporting patients as a chaplaincy student, a distinctively stimulating role. I gained new insights about illness, about loss and healing, family dynamics, and about myself as well.
My hope is to use my clinical experiences as a physician combined with contemplative and pastoral training to support people who may be frail, perhaps facing end-stage illness, or who are homebound, along with those close to them, through the auspices of service organizations including hospices and established community groups.
My current academic titles include Assistant Clinical Professor Emerita, Center for Family and Community Medicine and Special Lecturer, Columbia University Irvine Medical Center, reflecting my roles as founding faculty, Director of the Center, and Chief of Service at NY Presbyterian Hospital for over a decade.
My overriding career objectives have included advancing care for underserved people through clinical and leadership roles in Community Health Centers in New York City and academic institutions, along with health policy initiatives, on the local and federal levels. Primary care development initiatives included clinical service, educational initiatives, academic advancement, mentoring and leadership development.
As a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow in the office of then Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, collaborations with the public, professional organizations and Congressional leaders led to legislation included in the Affordable Care Act passed in 2010. The language included in the Public Health Service Title VII programs enhanced primary care, mental and dental health workforce clinical and training program development. Through my service as Director of the Division of Medicine and Dentistry, Bureau of Health Professions, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), I oversaw the establishment of the legislated initiatives.
With Congressional and federal administrative experience, as Medical Director of the Robert Graham Center for Policy Studies in Family Medicine and Primary Care, the Center continued to
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support primary care initiatives including expanding the knowledge base regarding primary care benefits through data analysis, publications, and national conference initiatives.
In my role as the Veterans Health Administration’s Office of Academic Affiliations Chief of Health Professions Education and Senior Advisor to the Chief Officer, I lead efforts to expand educational opportunities across the VA’s clinical settings, focusing on educating, recruiting and retaining clinicians for underserved areas such as rural clinical sites. One of four statutory missions of the Veterans Health Administration is clinical education. The VA, the largest integrated health system in the U.S., supports more than 125,000 students and trainees representing over forty professions, including over 40,000 medical and dental residents annually. Team based interprofessional training and service were a mainstay of the supported program initiatives. Implementation of clinical educational experiences and faculty development programs, both known to attract, support and retain clinicians and faculty were priorities.
Currently, I review manuscript submissions for the Journal of Graduate Medical Education and the Journal of Interprofessional Education and Practice. As a member of the National Academy of Medicine—Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Quarterly Alumni Forum Planning Committee, my policy and clinical experience I endeavor to provide perspective in forum planning.
I graduated from the University of Miami School of Medicine (now Miller School of Medicine) and completed family medicine residency at UM/Jackson Memorial Hospital. I am board certified in family medicine, with the degree of Fellow, American Academy of Family Medicine.