Investigators
Principal Investigator
Ms. Otis-Green is a licensed clinical social worker and Senior Research Specialist within the Nursing Research and Education Division at City of Hope. Her research, presentations and publications focus on end-of-life care and integrated symptom management with emphasis upon underserved populations. The principal investigator for the ACE Project, Shirley Otis-Green is a Project on Death in America Social Work Scholar and brings more than 15 years of experience in palliative care research, education and practice to this study. Recently Ms. Otis-Green was one of six national experts to be named a 2006 Mayday Pain Fellow.
Co-Investigator
Dr. Ferrell is a Research Scientist in the Nursing Research and Education Division at City of Hope. Her research program includes areas of quality of life (QOL), pain management and palliative care. Dr. Ferrell is the Principal Investigator for the End of Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC), a comprehensive national effort to improve end-of-life care by nurses. ELNEC, which began in February of 2000, entails a partnership between the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) and COH to coordinate national nursing efforts related to end-of-life issues. In 2003 Dr. Ferrell was awarded the Supportive Care Award from the Oncology Nursing Society, the Distinguished Service Award from the American Alliance of Cancer Pain Initiatives (2004) and the Distinguished Career Award from the Hospice and Palliative Nursing Association (2004).
Co-Investigator
Dr. Grant is a Research Scientist and the Director of Nursing Research and Education Division at City of Hope. Her primary program of research focuses on symptom management and quality of life in cancer patients. Dr. Grant’s current studies focus on the effects of post discharge teaching and follow-up for stem cell transplant survivors and quality of life in ostomy patients. She is Principal Investigator of the NCI funded study Disseminating End-of-Life Education to Cancer Centers (DELEtCC). Dr. Grant also recently received support from NCI for a project titled Survivorship Education for Quality Cancer Care. She is also a Co-Investigator for the ELNEC projects. In 1999, Dr. Grant received the Distinguished Service Award from the American Cancer Society and in 2000 the Robert T. Angarola Award from the Southern California Cancer Pain Initative. In 2003 Dr. Grant was awarded the Mary Nowotny Excellence in Cancer Nursing Education Award from the Oncology Nursing Society.
Faculty and Consultants
ACE Consultant & Faculty
Ms. Altilio is Coordinator of Social Work for the Department of Pain Medicine and Palliative Care, Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City and a Project on Death in America Social Work Leader. In 2003, she was selected as Social Worker of the Year by the Association of Oncology Social Work (AOSW) and received a Professional Recognition Award from the American Cancer Society. She is on the Advisory Board of the Alliance of State Pain Initiatives. She was also a key consultant in the development of the AOSW Web Course: Pain and Symptom Management: End of Life (2001). In 2006 Ms. Altilio was named a Mayday Pain Fellow.
ACE Faculty
Rev. Baird is an ordained minister who serves as a community end-of-life consultant providing end-of -life training to both medical professionals and lay persons in the community. Rev. Baird has worked for many years as a hospice and hospital chaplain. She is a graduate of the Alaya Institute, End-of-Life Care Practitioner Program (now the Metta Institute), founded by Frank Ostaseski of the Zen Hospice Project in San Francisco and is a recipient of the Southern California Cancer Pain Initiative (SCCPI) Award of Excellence in Pain Management. The focus of her clinical work with patients and families is related to the nature of suffering and the spiritual and existential issues experienced at the end of life.
ACE Consultant & Faculty
Mr. Browning is Senior Scholar at The Institute for Professionalism and Ethical Practice at Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School. He is also a Senior Research Associate at the Center for Applied Ethics at the Education Development Center, Inc. in Newton, Massachusetts, where he directs The Initiative for Pediatric Palliative Care (IPPC). Mr. Browning received the Social Work Leadership Development Award from the Project on Death in America, and served on the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine's College of Palliative Care Council. His research and publications have focused on developing and implementing innovative approaches to relational learning to a wide range of current challenges in health care. As director of IPPC, he has been responsible for overseeing a change effort in which more than 1200 health care professionals and bereaved parents across the country have begun to work together as partners to transform the culture of care for children with life-threatening conditions.
ACE Consultant & Faculty
Rev. Doka is Professor of Gerontology at the Graduate School of The College of New Rochelle, NY, an ordained Lutheran minister and Senior Consultant to the Hospice Foundation of America. In 1998, he received the Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC) Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Field of Death Education, in 2000 the Scott and White Award for Outstanding Professional Contributions in the Field of Thanatology, and in 2001 he was selected to receive the Distinguished Alumni Award from Concordia College, Bronxville, NY. He is the editor of Omega: The Journal of Death and Dying. In 1995, he was elected to the Board of Directors of the International Work Group on Dying, Death and Bereavement and served as its chair from 1997-1999. In his numerous publications, work with the Hospice Foundation of America’s annual National Bereavement Teleconference, as well as his work on many national boards, professional associations, and advisory committees, Rev. Doka has strived to create evidence-based bereavement support.
ACE Faculty
Dr. Kasl-Godley is Coordinator of Psychology Training at the Palo Alto Veterans’ Administration Inter-Professional Palliative Care Fellowship Program, Palo Alto, CA. Dr. Kasl-Godley was among the distinguished faculty chosen by the American Psychological Association’s End of Life Task Force for the committee to encourage the expansion of the role of psychologists in palliative care. She has published on interventions for anticipatory grief and end-of-life care. In 2003, Dr. Kasl-Godley was awarded the 2003 Theodore Blau Award from the American Psychological Association which recognizes a Clinical Psychologist who has made an outstanding contribution to the profession.
ACE Consultant & Faculty
Dr. Kramer is a Professor in the School of Social Work and member of the Comprehensive Cancer Center, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is a Project on Death in America Social Work Leader and Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholar. She received the 2004 Faculty Achievement Award (from the Association for Gerontology Education in Social Work) and an Alumni Fellows Award from the University of Louisville. Her research has focused on the experience of family caregivers, innovations in end-of-life care for elders with advanced chronic disease, and the phenomenon of family conflict at the end-of-life. Dr. Kramer seeks to effect change through her research, teaching and service. She has documented gaps in end-of-life content in leading social work textbooks, participated in developing the lead social work professional organization for palliative care and national mentoring programs, and with colleagues has put forth the national research agenda and competencies for the profession relevant to palliative care.
ACE Experiential Consultant
Ms. Lynne is the first Musician-in-Residence at City of Hope. Her accomplishments as an internationally acclaimed Celtic Harpist include releases that have placed in the Top 10 of the Billboard music chart as well as holding top positions in the Celtic, New Age and World Music radio airplay charts. Ms. Lynne is active in the harp therapy movement and she and Shirley Otis-Green developed the Hands on Harps Program at City of Hope in 2002 to explore the relaxation and distraction benefits of music for oncology patients, their families and staff. In recognition of the diversity at City of Hope, Ms. Lynne’s network of touring performers (representing a variety of musical styles) provides monthly free concerts to patients and staff. Based on the success of Hands-on-Harps at City of Hope, Lisa has been invited to speak at several Los Angeles hospitals resulting in similar programs implemented at Eisenhower Hospital, Riverside Community Hospital Huntington Memorial and two Kaiser Permanentes where Lisa provides music and musicians for their patient care areas.
ACE Evaluation Consultant
Dr. Mullan is an Associate Professor in Medical Education Research and Development at the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. Dr. Mullan has extensive experience in designing and evaluating medical education programs, including cancer education programs for healthcare professionals and patients. Her work in palliative care education includes serving as the evaluator for a national palliative care education project for medical residency programs. She has developed assessment instruments used to evaluate institutional palliative care teaching practices and individual faculty and resident knowledge, confidence, and concerns in palliative care in over 300 U.S. medical residency programs.
ACE Faculty
Dr. Puchalski is Director of the George Washington Institute for Spirituality and Health, Washington, DC, where she has been instrumental in developing novel and effective educational strategies to address the existential concerns common at end of life. Dr. Puchalski has demonstrated leadership in research and education in the integration of spiritual care across disciplines. In 2001, she was the recipient of the Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey’s Faculty Humanism in Medicine Award. Her many presentations and publications have urged the development of a holistic perspective in healthcare, with special emphasis on the importance of integrating spirituality into one’s practice.
ACE Consultant & Faculty
Dr. Twillman is Clinical Psychologist at the University of Kansas Cancer Center and the University of Kansas Hospital's Spine Center, Kansas City, KS. Dr. Twillman is a nationally recognized expert in pain and palliative care and is the past chair of the Board for the Alliance of State Pain Initiatives, and of the American Pain Society's Analgesic Regulatory Affairs Committee. His publications have centered on pain management and the emerging role of psychologists in palliative care. Dr. Twillman has worked extensively with state licensing boards for nursing, medicine, and pharmacy in Kansas to develop balanced policy statements regarding pain management. He also led a successful effort to pass a Pain Patients' Bill of Rights in the Kansas Legislature.
Staff
ACE Project Coordinator
Ms. Spolum is a recent graduate of the University of Chicago where she majored in History, Philosophy and the Social Studies of Science and Medicine. Prior to her work with the ACE Project, Maren was an intern in the Division of Nursing Research at City of Hope. At City of Hope she had the opportunity to co-author a paper with Marcia Grant, Jo Hanson and Patricia Mullan that placed second for the Presidential Award for Best Paper from the American Association for Cancer Education (2006). It was recently published in the Fall 07 issue of the Journal of Cancer Education.
Coordinator, Pain & Palliative Care Resource Center
Ms. Johnson is the coordinator for the Pain & Palliative Care Resource Center which serves as a wealth of resources and information for healthcare professionals. Ms. Johnson is involved in many projects in the Division of Nursing Research at City of Hope where she has organized numerous conferences within the division, as well events for the Southern Californian Cancer Pain Initiative.