Dr. Torke is a Professor of Medicine and Division Head of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics at Oregon Health & Science University. Prior to taking this role at OHSU in 2026, she was Section Chief of Palliative Medicine at Indiana University, Director of the Evans Center, which conducts research and education on religion and spirituality in healthcare, and a Research Scientist with the Indiana University Center for Aging Research at the Regenstrief Institute. 

Dr. Torke received her undergraduate degree from Carleton College and her M.D. from Indiana University. She completed residency in Primary Care-Internal Medicine at Emory University in Atlanta, GA and fellowship training at the University of Chicago from 2005-2007 in Primary Care Health Services Research and Ethics. 

Dr. Torke's research focuses on spiritual, religious, ethical, and communication aspects of medical decision making for older adults, including surrogate decision making for older adults with dementia and other forms of cognitive impairment. Recent studies include a randomized trial of spiritual care in the ICU setting and a trial of advance care planning for older adults living in the community. Her research focuses on populations that are diverse in terms of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender identify and has explored the healthcare experiences of underrepresented groups. 

She led the first position statement on the care of LGBTQ+ older adults from the American Geriatrics Society. She has received over 15 years of continuous funding from the NIH, and has also received grants from the Greenwall Foundation, the John A. Hartford Foundation and other foundation sources. She was the Chair of the NIH Clinical Management in General Care Setting Study Section from 2023-2025 and leads the Training Core for the NIH funded IMPACT Collaboratory, focused on the conduct of embedded pragmatic clinical trials in dementia. She has practiced primary care and palliative care over her career and currently practices primary care at the OHSU Internal Medicine Clinic.