Craig Dresang

Craig Dresang is CEO of YoloCares, Sacramento Valley’s first established hospice and community-based palliative care program. He is a writer, educator, hospice advocate, and an end-of-life columnist for The Davis Enterprise. Dresang is a board member for Joshua’s House in Sacramento, the first hospice residence for the homeless on the West Coast. During his 20+…

Kelstan Ellis, DO, MS-CR, MBE

Kelstan Ellis is a palliative care physician and bioethicist at Children’s Mercy Kansas City (CMKC) and the medical director of pediatric palliative care at the University of Kansas Health System (TUKHS). She completed her pediatrics residency and palliative care fellowship at the University of Kansas. Her clinical interests include the intersection of ethics and palliative…

William Feigelman, PhD

William Feigelman is an emeritus professor of sociology at Nassau Community College, where he taught for 50 years. Since his son’s suicide in 2002, Feigelman has focused his professional writings on suicide and suicide bereavement, with his writings appearing in most all leading bereavement journals. He is a co-author of Devastating Losses: How Parents Cope…

Rabbi Gary S. Fink, DMin

Gary Fink was Senior Vice President of Counseling and Family Support at Montgomery Hospice in Rockville, MD, where he supported the counseling departments, directed the Spiritual Counseling staff, and led interfaith community outreach efforts. He served as a congregational rabbi for more than 25 years, retiring from the pulpit to establish a pastoral counseling practice…

Pamela Gabbay, EdD, FT

Pamela Gabbay is a nationally recognized author, trainer, and consultant who has served the bereavement field in many capacities during her career. Gabbay is part of the training corps of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) and travels throughout the country conducting trainings on their behalf. She is on the Advisory Board for the…

Louis A. Gamino, PhD, ABPP, FT

Louis Gamino is Professor (Affiliated) of Psychiatry & Behavioral Science at Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine and Baylor Scott & White Health in Temple, Texas. Dr. Gamino is a Diplomate in Clinical Psychology through the American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP) and a Fellow in Thanatology (FT) through the Association for Death…

Maria Georgopoulos, LMHC, FT

Maria Georgopoulos is a licensed mental health counselor and Fellow in Thanatology, whose work focuses on grief, loss, and trauma. She is founder of Roula’s Kids: A Space for Grieving Families, Inc., which provides free grief groups in New York for children and their families that have experienced the death of someone significant in their…

Carlos Graveran

Carlos Graveran has more than 30 years of experience in healthcare and is a passionate hospice advocate. Since 2016, he has served as  Executive Director of Frederick Health Hospice, a nonprofit hospice agency in Frederick, MD. Previously, he served as vice president of operations for VITAS Healthcare. Graveran co-chairs the Public Policy Committee for the…

Matthew Vern Grindstaff

Vern Grindstaff, an avid community philanthropist, came to work in the hospice arena at Compassionate Care WNC (CCWNCC) around ten years ago. After serving in several capacities at CCWNC, he proudly accepted the invitation to take the reins and lead as CEO in 2022.

Madeleine M. Hardt, PhD

Madeleine Hardt is a postdoctoral associate at Weill Cornell Medicine in Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine’s T32 training program. Hardt earned her PhD in clinical psychology with a health emphasis at the University of Missouri – Kansas City. She completed her clinical internship (residency) in behavioral medicine at Yale School of Medicine, where her…