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.
Expert Presenters
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Joy Berger is Editor in Chief for Hospice & Palliative Care Today, a national newsletter for executive leaders. Additionally, she is the Founder/Owner of Composing Life Out of Loss, equipping hospices with caregiver/family video libraries for their needs through the continuum of care. Berger’s 30 years of hospice service span providing direct patient care; leading…
Susan Bluck is Director of the Life Story Lab and a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America. Bluck is a lifespan developmental psychologist with an emphasis on adult development, aging, and the end of life. Her research examines the ways that individuals use memories of life’s experiences (i.e., autobiographical remembering, life stories) to serve…
Jillian Blueford is a Clinical Associate Professor for the school counseling program at the University of Denver, a Licensed Professional Counselor in the state of Colorado, and is certified and a Fellow in Thanatology (Death, Dying, and Bereavement). Over the years, she has provided grief counseling to individuals of all backgrounds in various settings, including…
Christy Whitney Borchard served as the founding CEO of HopeWest for 29 years. She was founding director of an “all-volunteer” hospice in Durango, CO in 1979. She later served as Vice President of Mercy Medical Center and CEO of Hospice Northern Virginia, now Capital Caring. She is a co-founder of The National Partnership for Hospice…
Tashel Bordere is assistant professor of Human Development and Family Science and State Extension Specialist in Youth Development at the University of Missouri-Columbia. She is past editor of The Forum (Association for Death Education Counseling), past board member of the Association for Death Education and Counseling, and past Chair of the People of Color/Multicultural Committee. Bordere…
Pauline Boss is Professor Emeritus at the University of Minnesota, a Fellow in the American Psychological Association and the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, and a former president of the National Council on Family Relations. She practiced family therapy for over 40 years. With her groundbreaking work in research and practice, Boss coined…
Michelle Brassil is a palliative care physician at Banner North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley, CO, where she also serves as the Ethics Committee Chair. She completed her residency training in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital –Harvard Medical School before completing her fellowship in Hospice and Palliative Medicine at the University of…
Lauren Breen teaches and researches the psychology of grief and loss at Curtin University in Perth, Australia. She has published over 180 journal articles and book chapters and co-edited The Routledge International Handbook of Child and Adolescent Grief in Contemporary Contexts. Her TEDx talk is called “Six myths about grief to bust for yourself, and…
Kathleen Broglio is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College and Nurse Practitioner in Palliative Medicine, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. She has conducted research on the prevalence of opioid risk in oncology; cannabis use in palliative medicine; implementation of opioid management guidelines in the palliative care setting; and interprofessional…
Michelle Bronzo is a licensed clinical professional counselor specializing in grief counseling and loss. Her background includes work as a hospice bereavement counselor, an oncology clinical therapist, a support staff member for family caregivers, and a regulatory project associate for oncology clinical trials. She has experience providing individual and group counseling for both children and…
Molly Brooks is a board member of Hero’s Bridge. She is a registered nurse with over 23 years experience with specialty certifications in gerontology and hospice and palliative care. Throughout her professional and personal life, she has dedicated herself to caring for others, especially aging veterans.
Ramona Bullock-Johnson is a clinical social worker, specializing in substance use disorders and addiction treatment in Boston, MA. Primarily providing services to individuals, families and other consumers of community-based interventions, she focuses on the mental health and well-being of patients and clients with co-occurring disorders, including those with serious illness. Bullock-Johnson is an educator, researcher,…
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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