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.
The Humane Prison Hospice Project provides compassionate palliative, geriatric, memory, hospice, and end-of-life care support to incarcerated people, using an innovative model that trains incarcerated peer caregivers to work alongside the interdisciplinary care team. Lisa Deal and Laura Musselman will join Dr. Michele DiTomas to discuss the care needs of an aging prison population, the program, and how hospices can replicate the model in their own communities.
Registration Options
Continuing education included with registration.
Kathleen Benton is the CEO of Hospice Savannah, Inc. She is deeply involved in the region through volunteer advisory board roles with the Technical College System of Georgia’s local technical college and Georgia Southern University’s Waters College Advisory Board while holding professorships at Armstrong State University, Mercer University School of Medicine, and the Medical College…
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…
Jeffrey Boon is a registered nurse and board-certified as an Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner. He is a Postdoctoral Scholar at The Ohio State University College of Nursing where he conducts research on pain in people living with dementia as well as family caregiving networks in dementia related to pain in both the person with…
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…
Laura Bradbury is a grief counselor and assistant professor in the College of Nursing at the University of Utah. She is the director of Caring Connections: A Hope and Comfort in Grief Program at the University of Utah. She researches issues related to end of life care and grief and loss, suicide grief care, and…
Kailey Bradley is a licensed counselor and obtained a doctorate in counselor education and supervision in 2024 from Ohio University. Kailey also holds certifications in thanatology (FT) and has extensive training in best practices for supportive grief counseling and end of life care. Dr. Kailey has a background working in a hospice setting and is…
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…
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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