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.
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Continuing education included with registration
Heather Servaty-Seib is a licensed psychologist and Professor in the Counseling Psychology Doctoral Program at Purdue University where her primary scholarly areas include adolescent and college student bereavement, loss/gain impact of life events, and support and communication in the grieving process. She is currently serving as the Senior Associate Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning…
Frank Sesno is Director of Strategic Initiatives, The George Washington University School of Media & Public Affairs, a former anchor for CNN, and a longtime moderator of the Living with Grief® program. He is an Emmy-award winning journalist and creator of PlanetForward.org, a user-driven web and television project that highlights innovations in sustainability. Sesno is…
Megan Shaine graduated from Wesleyan University in 2004 with a bachelor of arts in Psychology and Government and received her master’s and doctoral degrees in Counseling (2010, 2016) from The George Washington University, where she served as a clinical supervisor for master’s students in the Clinical Mental Health and School Counseling Programs. Dr. Shaine’s research…
Daniel Shalev is Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine and Assistant Professor of Medicine in Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry. Dr. Shalev completed psychiatry residency at Columbia University followed by fellowship training in Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry (psychiatric care of individuals with medical and surgical illnesses) and in Hospice and…
M. Katherine Shear is the Marion E. Kenworthy Professor of Psychiatry and the founding Director of the Center for Prolonged Grief at Columbia University School of Social Work. Shear is a clinical researcher who first worked in anxiety and depression. For the past 25 years, she has focused on understanding and treating people who experience…
Hannah Sherebrin is an art therapist, former RN, ATR-BC, OATR, and supervisor. She specializes in trauma, bereavement, losses, and depression with adult and senior populations. She provides palliative care in home hospice situations for her clients.
Simon Shimshon Rubin is Director of the International Laboratory for the Study of Loss, Bereavement and Human Resilience and Chairman of the Zramim Postgraduate Psychotherapy Program at the University of Haifa in Israel. A Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Haifa, he is Professor of Psychology at the Academic College of Emek Jezreel. Rubin maintains an…
Rebecca Shiner is Charles A. Dana Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Colgate University, where she has taught since 1999. She received her PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Minnesota in 1998 and completed her clinical internship at the University of Rochester Department of Psychiatry in 1999. She has published widely on multiple…
Maria Silveira is a federally funded researcher, palliative care specialist, and ethicist at the University of Michigan and the LTC Kettles Ann Arbor Veterans Administration Medical Center. She currently serves as the director of the University of Michigan’s Palliative Care Research Program. She teaches ethics, communication, and symptom management to students and trainees, and mentors…
Darcia Simpson is an integral member of the transdisciplinary care team at Hospice of the Western Reserve. As a full-time spiritual care coordinator/chaplain, she collaborates with physicians, registered nurses, social workers, and other healthcare professionals to assess patient and family spiritual needs, identify spiritual problems, develop goals of care, and implement appropriate interventions. She is…
Kate Sims is a senior healthcare executive with more than 40 years of progressive leadership experience across acute care hospitals, hospice, homecare, outpatient services, patient experience, and healthcare operations. She is recognized for driving transformational change, operational excellence, clinical quality, and strategic growth within complex healthcare systems. Currently serving as Chief Operating Officer and Chief…
Reverend Annie Smith is an ordained minister and serves as Pastor of Heritage Christian Church in Silver Spring, MD and Chaplain of Hospice of Chesapeake. She graduated from Howard University School of Divinity, receiving her Master of Divinity degree in 2004. She holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Sociology from North Carolina Central University….
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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