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.
Whether it’s a popular HBO Max drama or an interview in People magazine with a famous actress, stories of end-of-life doulas are suddenly everywhere. But how exactly does this new and evolving service complement the work of hospice teams? Join a discussion with hospice professionals and end-of-life doulas to learn how doulas work in tandem with hospice IDT members to another layer of support to patients and families at the end of life.
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Continuing education included with registration.
Elizabeth Crunk is a psychotherapist, educator, and researcher who maintains a private practice in Washington, DC. She specializes in treating adults who are bereaved or who have experienced a loss, with particular expertise in treating complications in grieving. Prior to establishing her practice, Crunk served as assistant professor of counseling at The George Washington University….
Randall Curtis was a pulmonary and critical care physician and palliative medicine physician at Harborview Medical Center at the University of Washington. Curtis held the A. Bruce Montgomery- American Lung Association Endowed Chair in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and was the founding Director of the Cambia Palliative Care Center of Excellence at the University…
Terri Daniel is an end-of-life educator, interspiritual hospice chaplain, and grief counselor. She is certified in death, dying and bereavement by the Association of Death Education and Counseling and in family-focused grief therapy by The Portland Institute. Daniel conducts workshops throughout the US and is an adjunct instructor in thanatology and chaplaincy at Marian University,…
Kimberly Dansie is Vice President of Community Outreach at Community Nursing Service Home Health and Hospice, West Valley City, UT. Kimberly is passionate about improving the final years of Seniors and has worked towards that goal as a healthcare executive in the post-acute space for over 30 years. She earned a Bachelor’s of Science degree…
Kara Dassel is a professor in the College of Nursing at the University of Utah. Dassel earned her doctorate in gerontology from the University of Kentucky and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona. Her research interests focus on Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, end-of-life care planning, and caregiver health outcomes….
Brian de Vries is professor emeritus of gerontology at San Francisco State University with an adjunct appointment at Simon Fraser University (in Vancouver). He is a fellow of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA), past Board member of the American Society on Aging (ASA), and former co-chair of the LGBTQ Aging Issues Network constituent group….
Lisa Deal is senior advisor to the Humane Prison Hospice Project. As a community health nurse caring for AIDS patients in Boston during the late 1980s, Lisa discovered her passion for being with the dying. Following that profound experience, Lisa’s life took her down a variety of paths as a clinician, research associate, policy analyst/editor,…
Monica Delaney is an art therapist and licensed professional counselor. She has worked in pediatric hospice and children’s grief counseling since 2018. Prior to that, she had experience with children and adults receiving organ transplants, in outpatient oncology/hematology, and in private practice, as well as with children and teens with emotional and behavioral disabilities. She…
Thom Dennis is the creator of the Grief River® model. With over 30 years of experience supporting individuals and families as they navigate their way through some of life’s most turbulent and troubled waters, Dennis brings real-world, practical knowledge applicable to all interdisciplinary team members working in hospice and palliative care. With a professional career immersed in pastoral care…
Michele DiTomas is Assistant Deputy Medical Executive for Palliative and Complex Care and CMF Hospice Medical Director with California Correctional Health Care Services. She earned her MD from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and is board-certified in both family medicine and hospice and palliative medicine. Dr. DiTomas has spent over 10 years working…
Kenneth Doka is Senior Vice President of Grief Programs at Hospice Foundation of America (HFA) and the recipient of the 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of Death Education and Counseling (ADEC). He is professor emeritus, the Graduate School of The College of New Rochelle. A prolific author and editor, Doka serves as editor of HFA’s Living…
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+…
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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