Experts & Educators
We are a hub for the country’s most distinguished hospice and grief experts, researchers, and professionals. HFA experts help to inform and educate on a wide range of timely and relevant topics essential to best practice.
Our HFA educators are well known and widely recognized as experts in their fields.
They’re researchers with decades of knowledge backed by evidenced-based studies.
They’re professionals who have honed their skills with years of patient and family care.
HFA has been privileged to include many notable experts in its professional education offerings over the past 30 years, including the late Earl. A Grollman; Nancy Hogan, RN, PhD; Karla Holloway, PhD; the late William M. Lamers, MD; the late Richard E. Payne, MD.
Below is a complete listing of our presenters and authors from 2020 onward. We are grateful for their willingness to share their expertise to advance hospice and bereavement care through HFA.
Working with people confronting grief, loss, trauma, and tragedy is an intensely personal endeavor—one that carries well-documented risks for practitioners, including burnout, moral distress, and compassion fatigue. Yet current research and clinical wisdom show that the demands of this work can be managed effectively and may even promote personal and professional growth. Drawing on recent developments in positive psychology, neuroscience, and contemporary psychotherapy, this session presents evidence-based strategies to strengthen emotional resilience, sustain meaningful self-care, and enhance clinical effectiveness.
Registration Options
Please Note: Individual memberships and registrations are not eligible for organization or community use.
Continuing education included with registration
Wendy Lichtenthal is an associate professor (pending rank) in the Department of Public Health Sciences at the Miami Miller School of Medicine. Her impactful research is centered around pioneering and assessing innovative psychosocial interventions tailored for cancer patients and their families. Her work particularly zeroes in on the challenging aspects of bereavement and cancer survivorship,…
Arion Lillard-Green was formerly a Spiritual Counselor with Goodwin House Palliative Care and Hospice in Falls Church, VA. She is an advocate for making health education and health literacy accessible to all people through inclusion, and is dedicated to making an impact on chronic illness within the African American community through outreach. Lillard-Green has served…
Jenni Linebarger is the Division Director of Palliative Care at Children’s Mercy Kansas City and Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Missouri – Kansas City. Linebarger received her medical degree from the University of Missouri and Master of Public Health from the University of Rochester. She completed her pediatric residency at the University of…
Sonya Lott has been a licensed psychologist for more than three decades. She maintains a multistate online private practice, specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD). She is a frequent presenter on PGD at professional conferences, and often shares information about acute and prolonged grief and the impact of the pandemic…
Ruth Malkinson is the director of training at the International Laboratory for the Study of Loss, Bereavement and Resilience, University of Haifa. Director of the Israeli Center of REBT, she is past president of the Israeli Association for Family and Marital Therapy. Her fields of expertise are grief, trauma and bereavement and RE-CBT. Malkinson maintains…
Pamela Malone maintains a private clinical practice in which she provides individual, couples, and family therapy. Her clinical experience spans 40 years in a variety of settings. She is a clinical supervisor for master’s level clinicians and provides supervisor training to LCSWs and LMFTs. Malone’s research, presentations, and publications focus on loss and grief, adolescence,…
Jenna Marcus is an Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Northwestern Medicine. She has a BS from Oakland University and an MD from Wayne State University School of Medicine.
Patricia Mayer is board-certified in Internal Medicine, Rheumatology, and Hospice and Palliative Medicine. She holds a Master of Science Degree in Bioethics, completed a two-year Clinical Ethics Fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic, and founded the Clinical Ethics Service at Cleveland Clinic Florida. She served as medical director of the Hospice of Northern Colorado and holds…
Meghan McDarby is a postdoctoral research fellow at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Her research has focused on providing psychological support to patients with palliative care needs and their caregivers.
Leah McDonald is a current Fellow in Hospice and Palliative Medicine at Hope Health and Brown University School of Medicine in Rhode Island. She completed her residency in Emergency Medicine at NYU/Bellevue and is interested in improving primary palliative care and hopsice skills provided in critical care settings and the emergency department.
Jackie McGinley is a licensed social worker and Assistant Professor with the Binghamton University Department of Social Work. Dr. McGinley’s research focuses on the intersection of disability, aging, serious illness, and end-of-life care. Through her work, Dr. McGinley seeks to improve care for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families as the end…
Doneila McIntosh (she/they) is an Assistant Professor at the University of Georgia, Department of Human Development and Family Science with an emphasis in Couple and Family Therapy (CFT). Broadly, Doneila’s research examines family processes and well-being, including couples, adults, children and adolescents, and parent-child dyads. Specifically, her research investigates how psychosocial and contextual factors—such as…
Whether you’re a patient, family member, or a friend trying to determine whether hospice is the right choice, HFA is here. We provide guidance before, during, and after the important decisions are made.
HFA’s online courses and products can enhance your knowledge and advance your understanding. Choose materials designed for individuals, organizations, and communities. Join HFA and receive free access to courses and product discounts.
