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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Karen Bullock is the Ahearn Endowed Professor in the Boston College School of Social Work. Her practice interests include health disparities and health equity in serious illness care; aging and gerontology; and hospice, palliative, and end-of-life care decision making. Her research focuses on cancer care, social support for older adults, diversity, equity, and cultural factors…
Laurie Burke is a licensed clinical psychologist who maintains an active private practice in Portland, OR that is dedicated to serving grieving individuals, with a primary focus on assisting traumatically bereaved adults (e.g., individuals grieving losses from homicide, suicide, or fatal accident). She received her doctorate in Clinical Psychology at the University of Memphis where…
Joanne Cacciatore is a professor at Arizona State University and leads the Graduate Certificate in Trauma and Bereavement program. She is also the founder of the international NGO the MISS Foundation and the Selah Carefarm, helping those who have experienced violent and mass deaths, the deaths of children, suicide loss, and other catastrophic losses. Cacciatore’s…
John Cagle is an assistant professor at the University of Maryland-Baltimore School of Social Work with a substantive interest in improving care at the end of life. As a translational health services researcher, his efforts have focused on identifying effective models of care and support for dying patients and their families, and implementing those models…
Amy Calligan is a regional pediatric registered nurse case manager for Capital Caring Health. For almost 20 years, Amy has been a passionate advocate for her patients and sees her work with pediatric hospice patients as a way to enhance the quality of the child’s life during what she feels are their most vital moments….
Carla Cheatham began her career in psychosocial services before working as an interfaith healthcare chaplain and bereavement coordinator. She is a national keynote speaker and consultant focusing on emotionally intelligent and resilient professionals and organizations, Chair of NHPCO’s Ethics Advisory Council, former Leader for NHPCO’s Spiritual Caregivers Community, Adjunct Professor at Seminary of the Southwest,…
Karen Cassidy is the Founder and Executive Director of Hildegard House, Kentucky’s first and only comfort care home which provides a home and compassionate care for those at the end of life who have no home or loved ones to care for them so that they may die with dignity. Karen has been blessed with…
André Cernasov joined Agrace in August 2024 and is board certified in both family medicine and hospice & palliative medicine. Prior to this role, he practiced inpatient and outpatient palliative medicine at Advocate Aurora Health from 2021 to 2024, where he also served as the Associate Program Director for the Aurora HPM Fellowship in Milwaukee,…
Cristina Chipriano es la Directora de Equidad, Relaciones Comunitarias y la coordinadora del programa Esperanza en el Dougy Center.
Harvey Max Chochinov is a Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Manitoba and a Senior Scientist at CancerCare Manitoba Research Institute. His research in palliative care has resulted in more than 350 career publications, broaching diverse topics such as depression, quality-of-life, suicide, vulnerability, spirituality, and existential distress. He has also led a large…
Mary Katherine Clemons is a clinical psychologist at Baylor Scott & White Health in Temple, Texas. With a specialty in health psychology, she operates in three departments (Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Supportive & Palliative Care, and Obstetrics and Gynecology). She also serves as the Associate Program Director for the Postdoctoral Fellowship in Health Service Psychology.
Chris Comeaux is the President/CEO of Teleios Collaborative Network (TCN) and Teleios Consulting Group (TCG) and author of the award-nominated book The Anatomy of Leadership. TCN supports 15 non-profit hospices and serious illness organizations nationally; three of those were impacted by Hurricane Helene, one very significantly. He spent a substantial portion of his career as President/CEO of Four…
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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