Katherine Hill Calloway, D.O., MPH

By Megan Bevins 

As young Katherine Hill Calloway spent time with her grandfather, a coal-camp doctor who cared for West Virginians for over 50 years, she learned an important lesson that would stick with her forever—when you see a need, you step into it. Eventually,
this mindset led her to pursue a career in health care.

Calloway studied sports medicine and medical anthropology at Wake Forest University, going on to pursue a Master of Public Health at Boston University.

“My education gave me two things: perspective and purpose,” Calloway says.

In 1992, Calloway began international work in border camps in Cambodia. This experience inspired her to pursue a path of global service, leading to roles such as health officer for worldwide organizations; work on HIV and AIDS initiatives with the Clinton Foundation and Emory in Mozambique and Rwanda; rural community health care work in Honduras; and diabetes
initiatives in rural Italy.

After returning home to West Virginia, Calloway decided to further her education at the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine (WVSOM).

“I was drawn to the philosophy of treating the whole person—mind, body and spirit—and to the belief that connection, compassion and hands-on care are central to healing,” she says.

In 2010, Calloway’s family experienced the devastating loss of her sister. As they navigated profound grief, hospice became a source of great comfort, opening her eyes to how this kind of support system can bring peace to the most difficult experiences. This inspired Calloway to pursue hospice in her own career.

“I knew I wanted to contribute to that same mission here in West Virginia—to help strengthen hospice care across our state and ensure families receive the kind of compassionate, human-centered support that helped mine,” she says.

In totality, Calloway practices family medicine, hospice, palliative care and osteopathic medicine, with additional work in chronic disease management and integrative approaches. She works in academic medicine as well, a field which came with an additional pull: the opportunity for mentorship, something she says has been one of the most meaningful parts of her career.

“Guiding students through clinical challenges, career decisions and personal growth reminds me that leadership is not about what we build for ourselves, but what we cultivate in others,” Calloway says. “Our investment
in others multiplies far beyond what we can do alone.”

Calloway currently serves as regional assistant dean for WVSOM and chief medical director for HospiceCare West Virginia. She says throughout her career, she has witnessed how providing service can form connections, sometimes unexpectedly. One example of this is when Calloway saw a trip with students to northeast India turn into meeting the Dalai Lama and hosting his advisor, the Oracle Nechung Kuten-la, in West Virginia, who later spoke at WVSOM and offered a blessing over the state on the Capitol steps.

“Experiences like these remind me how deeply interconnected we all are and how service has a way of widening the circle far beyond what we imagine,” she says.

Of everything she has accomplished, Calloway considers one of her greatest successes raising three children while pursuing a demanding medical career. She says throughout that experience, her husband was there to support her every step of the way as well as her mother, who she says was a constant source of encouragement, and her father, who demonstrated unwavering faith.

“I am also deeply influenced by my three children,” Calloway says. “They remind me daily of what matters most and inspire me to be a better, more compassionate and grounded version of myself. They are the motivation behind much of the work I do—a reminder that service, integrity and humility are values best lived, not just taught.”

For Calloway, continuing to live and work in West Virginia is not a question but a commitment.

“My life’s work is to serve, help others be heard and build systems that honor the dignity of every human being,” she says. “That mission has guided every step of my career, and it continues to guide what I hope to contribute to West Virginia.”