Scholars@Duke
Wil Leonard Santivasi

Wil Leonard Santivasi

Assistant Professor of Medicine
Medicine, Geriatrics and Palliative Care
wil.santivasi@duke.edu
DUMC 3688, Durham, NC 27710
40 Duke Medicine Circle, DUMC 3688, Durham, NC 27710

Selected Publications

Present challenges impacting the management of psychological symptoms in patients receiving CAR-T therapy or stem cell transplantation.

Journal Article Expert Rev Pharmacoecon Outcomes Res · December 2025 INTRODUCTION: Hematopoietic stem cell (HSCT) and chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy are crucial in the treatment of hematologic malignancies. While HSCT has been long established as a mainstay of the treatment of these diseases, CAR-T is a ne ... Full text Link to item Cite

Exploring the impact of surgeon-reported gender on palliative care utilization in geriatric trauma patients.

Journal Article Am J Surg · March 2025 INTRODUCTION: Geriatric trauma research increasingly supports the use of Palliative Care (PC). We surveyed trauma surgeon for perspectives on PC usage. Significant gender differences were identified, necessitating post-hoc investigation. METHODS: A post-ho ... Full text Link to item Cite

Updates on strategies to integrate palliative care in hematologic malignancy.

Journal Article Hematology Am Soc Hematol Educ Program · December 6, 2024 Full text Link to item Cite

Beyond Infection: Mortality and End-of-Life Care Associated With Infectious Disease Consultation in an Academic Health System.

Journal Article Clin Infect Dis · October 15, 2024 BACKGROUND: Infectious diseases (ID) physicians are increasingly faced with the challenge of caring for patients with terminal illnesses or incurable infections. METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort of all patients with an ID consult within an academic ... Full text Link to item Cite

Attitudes and Beliefs Regarding Pain Medicine: Results of a National Palliative Physician Survey.

Journal Article J Pain Symptom Manage · August 2024 CONTEXT: Pain is a prevalent symptom in patients with serious illness and often requires interventional approaches for adequate treatment. Little is known about referral patterns and collaborative attitudes of palliative physicians regarding pain managemen ... Full text Link to item Cite

Cardiac healthcare disparities and electrocardiography (ECG) differences in schizophrenia at end of life.

Journal Article Schizophr Res · December 2023 Schizophrenia is associated with early mortality of 15 to 20 years, and 80 % of deaths are due to cardiovascular disease with a three-times greater risk of sudden-cardiac-death. While lifestyle, medications, genetics, and healthcare disparities are contrib ... Full text Link to item Cite

Prazosin for nightmares in serious illness.

Journal Article BMJ Support Palliat Care · October 2023 Nightmares can be a distressing symptom in patients living with serious illness. Prazosin, a selective alpha-1 adrenergic antagonist, has been suggested to treat nightmares, with most data supporting its use in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We pre ... Full text Link to item Cite

Reframing professional identity through navigating tensions during residency: A qualitative study.

Journal Article Perspect Med Educ · March 2022 INTRODUCTION: Professional identity formation (PIF) is the internalization of characteristics, values, and norms of the medical profession. An individual's identity formation has both psychological and sociological influences. Social psychology may be usef ... Full text Link to item Cite

Perceptions of Hematology Among Palliative Care Physicians: Results of a Nationwide Survey.

Journal Article J Pain Symptom Manage · November 2021 CONTEXT: Palliative care integration for patients with hematologic diseases has lagged behind solid-organ malignancies. Previous work has characterized hematologist perspectives, but less is known about palliative care physician views of this phenomenon. O ... Full text Link to item Cite

Deprescribing in Hospice Patients: Discontinuing Aspirin, Multivitamins, and Statins

Journal Article Mayo Clinic Proceedings Innovations Quality and Outcomes · August 1, 2021 Objective: To facilitate deprescribing of aspirin, multivitamins, and statins in hospice patients enrolled in Mayo Clinic Hospice, Rochester, Minnesota. Patients and Methods: During the fall of 2019, we conducted a quality improvement project to improve ca ... Full text Cite

Resident impression management within feedback conversations: A qualitative study.

Journal Article Med Educ · February 2021 INTRODUCTION: Medical education is moving to conceptualise feedback as a bidirectional learning conversation. Within this conversation, learners experience a tension between assessment and feedback. That perceived tension affects learners' outward performa ... Full text Link to item Cite

Autonomy and professional identity formation in residency training: A qualitative study.

Journal Article Med Educ · July 2020 CONTEXT: Professional identity formation (PIF) involves the development of professional values, actions and aspirations and is central to medical education. Current understanding of PIF is informed by psychological and sociological theories. One ideal of m ... Full text Link to item Cite

The role of geriatric palliative care in hospitalized older adults.

Journal Article Hosp Pract (1995) · March 2020 Take-Away Points:1. Geriatric palliative care requires integrating the disciplines of hospital medicine and palliative care in pursuit of delivering comprehensive, whole-person care to aging patients with serious illnesses.2. Older adults have unique palli ... Full text Link to item Cite

A Beginner's Guide to the End: Practical Advice for Living Life and Facing Death

Journal Article Journal of Palliative Medicine · December 1, 2019 Full text Cite

Primary Malignant Pericardial Mesothelioma

Journal Article JACC: Case Reports · August 2019 Full text Cite

Palliative care physicians' beliefs toward hematology and the care of patients with hematologic diseases: Results of a nationwide survey.

Conference Journal of Clinical Oncology · December 1, 2018 95 Background: Palliative care (PC) specialists provide supportive care for patients with hematologic diseases (HD). However, the degree of engagement by PC physicians may be limited by the views of both PC physicians & hemat ... Full text Cite

Palliative Care Physicians' Views Toward Hematology and the Care of Patients with Hematologic Diseases: Results of a Nationwide Survey

Conference Blood · November 29, 2018 AbstractBackground: Palliative care specialists provide supportive care for patients with hematologic diseases. However, the degree of engagement by palliative care physicians may b ... Full text Cite

The Organ Transplant Imperative.

Journal Article Mayo Clin Proc · June 2017 More than 120,000 US patients were listed for solid organ transplants in 2016. Although data are scarce, we suspect that many of these patients will die while awaiting transplant and without engaging in goals-of-care discussions with their physicians. The ... Full text Link to item Cite

Association between cytosolic expression of BRCA1 and metastatic risk in breast cancer.

Journal Article Br J Cancer · July 28, 2015 BACKGROUND: Although BRCA1 has been extensively studied for its role as a tumour-suppressor protein, the role of BRCA1 subcellular localisation in oncogenesis and tumour progression has remained unclear. This study explores the impact of BRCA1 mislocalisat ... Full text Link to item Cite

Ionizing radiation-induced DNA damage, response, and repair.

Journal Article Antioxid Redox Signal · July 10, 2014 SIGNIFICANCE: Ionizing radiation (IR) is an effective and commonly employed treatment in the management of more than half of human malignancies. Because IR's ability to control tumors mainly relies on DNA damage, the cell's DNA damage response and repair ( ... Full text Link to item Cite

Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura after Mastectomy and Axillary Lymph Node Dissection

Journal Article Case Reports in Surgery · 2014 First described in 1916, idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) is an autoimmune disease resulting in the destruction of platelets. Here, we present a case of an 85-year-old patient diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast whose su ... Full text Cite

The role and clinical significance of DNA damage response and repair pathways in primary brain tumors.

Journal Article Cell Biosci · February 6, 2013 Primary brain tumors, in particular, glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), continue to have dismal survivability despite advances in treating other neoplasms. The goal of new anti-glioma therapy development is to increase their therapeutic ratios by enhancing tum ... Full text Link to item Cite

Basic mechanisms of therapeutic resistance to radiation and chemotherapy in lung cancer.

Journal Article Cancer J · 2013 In recent years, there have been multiple breakthroughs in our understanding of lung cancer biology. Despite significant advances in molecular targeted therapies, DNA-damaging cytotoxic therapies will remain the mainstay of lung cancer management for the n ... Full text Link to item Cite

Burn Center Management of Operating Room Fire Injuries

Journal Article Journal of Burn Care & Research · 2012 Full text Cite