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
Cara Wallace is Votsmier Endowed Chair and Professor in the School of Nursing at Saint Louis University, with a secondary appointment in Social Work. A former hospice and hospital social worker, her research focuses on barriers, access, and quality of end-of-life care. Dr. Wallace has been published/featured in USA Today, Health Affairs Forefront, GeriPal, St….
Wendy Walters has been in direct clinical practice for over 30 years, with the bulk of that experience in end-of-life care. She spent the first 17 years of her career in hospice work, ultimately returning to UAB in 2006. She joined the UAB Hospital Ethics Committee in 2009 and began taking ethics consults for the…
Jennifer Ward is a Licensed Master Social Worker, Certified Financial Social Worker, and Certified Grief Informed Professional with over 15 years of experience supporting individuals and families in enhancing their lives and well-being. She holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Curry College and a master’s degree in social work from Boston College. Additionally, Jennifer…
Karla Washington researches interventions intended to promote the cultural, spiritual, and biopsychosocial wellbeing of patients, families and communities facing life-limiting, serious illnesses. Her research applies digital health solutions in the linked fields of palliative and hospice care. Washington’s current projects include an intervention to support and educate rural hospice family caregivers on controlling pain and…
Lisa Wasson is the Community Nurse Educator with HopeHealth. As the recipient of the Providence Business News Healthcare Heroes Educator of the Year Award she draws on her experience as a certified hospice and palliative care nurse to develop educational presentations for new and existing clinicians of all disciplines. She brings her expertise from 25…
Michelle Webb is a clinical assistant professor at Duke University School of Nursing. She has diverse nursing practice and leadership experience and has held executive leadership positions in behavioral/psychiatric-mental health, home health, acute care, and hospice care. Webb has nearly 20 years of experience in hospice as a clinician and leader. She is a member…
Ryan Weller is the National Program Manager for Palliative and Hospice Care for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Prior to this role, he was the team leader and clinical social worker for the Portland (Oregon) VA Medical Center’s Palliative Care Consult Team for 20 years. During 10 of those years, he was also the…
Mary Grace Whalen is a freelance writer and the author of a children’s book titled The Legend of Eddie the Whale.
Dorothy Wholihan is director of the Palliative Care Nurse Practitioner Program and a clinical professor of nursing at the NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing. She is a palliative care nurse practitioner with over 40 years of nursing experience and maintains a current practice as a palliative care nurse practitioner at the James J. Peters…
Shana Wierchowski is an instructor in medicine at Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College and the director of inpatient services for palliative medicine at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. She works with seriously ill patients and their care partners in the acute hospital setting as a consultant and at her hospital’s inpatient palliative unit. She…
Joah Williams is an associate professor at the University of Memphis. He has broad research and clinical interests in the area of traumatic stress, extending this work into the related areas of community violence and traumatic grief. His research focuses on psychosocial and health consequences of trauma exposure and the development of traumatic stress prevention…
Hank Willner has focused on hospice and palliative medicine for over 25 years and currently works for Capital Caring Health as a prn Hospice Medical Director and Palliative Care and educational consultant. His special interests include the doctor-patient relationship, informed consent, and bioethics.
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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