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.
HFA’s 2025 Living with Grief® program highlights interventive, creative, and adjunct evidence-based strategies used to assist dying patients and their intimate networks find meaning, value, and comfort. End-of-life care providers from across the country will share insights into programs such as pet therapy, art and music therapy, and the use of virtual reality, which improve the dying experience, offering patients and their networks enhanced quality care, an improved perception of care, and the amelioration of grief. Hospice providers, in turn, may benefit from satisfied clients, recognition in their communities, and enhanced staff morale.
Click here to watch a sneak peek!
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Chaplain Kevin Orie serves as a chaplain at Hospice of the Chesapeake, offering spiritual and emotional care to patients facing life-limiting illnesses and their loved ones. Holding a Doctor of Ministry degree, specializing in chaplaincy studies from Lancaster Bible College, and a pastorate for nine years, he brings several years of experience in providing pastoral…
Sheila Otten is in private practice in Louisville, KY, living out her passion providing education and support to children and families. She is also an instructor at the University of Louisville. Otten worked in community mental health supporting children and families in crisis and went on to serve as the primary social worker with the…
Lisa Pahl is co-creator of The Death Deck and The E•O•L Deck, tools that inspire meaningful conversations on what matters most in our lives and in our deaths. As a licensed clinical social worker with over 17 years of experience within hospice and emergency medicine, Pahl helps people cope with illness, dying, and grief. With…
Lara Palay is a licensed social worker and clinical supervisor. She teaches clinical social work at The Ohio State University College of Social Work. Ms. Palay served as the first Project Manager for the Mental Illness/Developmental Disabilities Coordinating Center of Excellence for the Ohio Department of Mental Health and the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities….
Cynthia Carter-Perrilliat is Executive Director and Co-Founder of the AC Care Alliance Collaborative (ACCA). Founded in the African-American faith community, ACCA’s Advanced Illness Care Program is a community based, person-centered, care navigation intervention serving individuals with chronic, serious, and advanced illness and their caregivers, in partnership with health, faith, academic and community-based organizations, providing services…
Ryan Pferdehirt is the Vice President of Ethics Services at the Center for Practical Bioethics in Kansas City and an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Bioethics at Kansas City University. He supports healthcare organizations in the development of ethics committees and departments and works to grow competencies of member ethics committees, individual consultants, and the general…
Holly Prigerson is the Endowed Professor of Diagnostics in Radiology, the Professor of Sociology in Radiology and in Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College and the Director of the Cornell Center for Research on End-of-Life Care. Her current research interests include targeting psychosocial factors influencing end-of-life care and bereavement adjustment, examining racial/ethnic disparities in the…
Mary Beth Quaranta Morrissey is a gerontological health and social work researcher and New York attorney concentrating in health and public health law with deep experience in palliative care and hospice, including in the development of palliative care workforce education and training. Morrissey currently holds the appointments of Associate Professor and Director of the PhD…
Therese Rando is a clinical psychologist, traumatologist, and thanatologist in Warwick, Rhode Island. She is the Clinical Director of The Institute for the Study and Treatment of Loss, which provides mental health services through psychotherapy, training, supervision, and consultation, and specializes in loss and grief; traumatic stress; and the psychosocial care of persons with chronic,…
JoAnne Reifsnyder is Executive Vice President, Clinical Operations and Chief Nursing Officer for Genesis HealthCare. In this role, she is responsible for leader development, nursing strategy and clinical quality, safety and efficiency. She serves on the board of the Hospice Foundation of America and is the past President of the board of directors for the…
Dr. Richmond is Vice President of Medical Affairs and Hospice Medical Director with Hospice of the Chesapeake. She is a compassionate hospice and palliative care physician with over a decade of experience dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for patients with serious illnesses. With a strong foundation in internal medicine, she transitioned to palliative…
Hannah Righter graduated from Berklee College of Music with a degree in Music Therapy and is a Board-Certified Music Therapist and the Director of Arts at The Connecticut Hospice. She has presented on the benefits of expressive therapies at area healthcare organizations and regional conferences. While experienced with a variety of populations, including special education,…
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.
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