Advisory Board

Amy Tucci (she/her) is President and CEO of Hospice Foundation of America (HFA). She began work with HFA in 2004, directing its national annual Living with Grief® educational event and its Washington, DC office and staff. She has produced numerous educational programs on advanced illness care and grief and has edited more than a dozen books on topics involving end of life, including ethics; pain management; child and adolescent grief; grief theory; aging; diversity; and spirituality. In addition to carrying out HFA’s core mission, Amy has overseen and is actively engaged with several national grant-funded initiatives related to advance care planning, children and funerals, and autism and grief. Prior to joining HFA, Amy was a press secretary on Capitol Hill for the Committee on Ways and Means; vice president of the Alliance of Community Health Plans, and director of communications and membership for the American Public Human Services Association. She began her career as a newspaper journalist. Amy is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and currently serves on HFA’s Board of Directors, and formerly served on the Board of Consultors for the M. Louise Fitzpatrick College of Nursing at Villanova University, and the Leadership and Development Committee for the Association for Death, Education, and Counseling.

April Castaldi, BSN, RN, RNC-NIC (she/her) is currently the Assistant Nurse Manager at OHSU Doernbecher Children's Hospital's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit where she has worked as a NICU RN for the entirety of her 20+ year nursing career. She is a three-time OHSU Nurse of the Year nominee and won OHSU's Nurse of the Year Leading the Profession Award in 2021. That same year, she received an Honorable Mention Award Designee for The Schwartz Center's global National Compassionate Caregivers of the Year Award. Most recently, she received the prestigious March of Dimes Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022. April is most passionate about implementation of Trauma Informed Care in the NICU setting and utilizing principles of psychological first aid and crisis management to create working environments that are supportive and secure.

Dr. Caitlyn Loucas (she/her) is a pediatric psychologist and Assistant Professor of Child Psychology at Yale School of Medicine. She received her PhD from American University and completed both residency and postdoctoral fellowship at Nemours Children's Hospital Delaware with a focus in pediatric oncology and hematology. Dr. Loucas is embedded in the Section of Pediatric Oncology and Hematology at Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital, providing integrated behavioral health care to youth with cancer and chronic blood disorders. Dr. Loucas works across inpatient and outpatient clinical settings as part of a multidisciplinary team to ensure families receive comprehensive, person-focused care.

Doneila L. McIntosh, M.Div., PhD., LAMFT (she/they) is an Assistant Professor at the University of Georgia, department of Human Development and Family Science with an emphasis in Couple and Family Therapy (CFT). Doneila’s research examines family processes and well-being in Black populations, including couples, adults, children and adolescents, and parent-child dyads. Her research investigates how contextual factors –such as exposure to violence, traumatic loss, and behavioral health –shape family dynamics and mental and relational outcomes across the lifespan. As a therapist, Doneila specializes in grief therapy, primarily supporting youth and families in the aftermath of traumatic loss. Doneila was a recipient of the 2023 Ron Keith Barrett Multicultural Presentation Award from the Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC). She was also a two-time recipient of the Foundation for the Advancement of Human Systems Program, and a recipient of the 2024 John L. and Harriette P. McAdoo Dissertation Award from the National Council on Family Relations (NCFR).

Frances Way, LAT, ATR, (she/her) is a nationally registered art therapist and licensed in the state of Oregon. Frances is a clinical art therapist at Doernbecher Children’s Hospital focused on serving patients and families coping with the impact of chronic and serious illness. Frances holds a professional passion for program development and advocacy for grief sensitive and holistic healthcare through creative means.

Heidi Berquist (she/her) graduated from the University of Minnesota College of Mortuary Science and worked in the funeral service industry before accepting a position at Oregon Health & Science University in 1999. She brings  expertise in funeral service with a focus on ensuring patients and families receive compassionate guidance and support following a death in the hospital setting.  In my free time, Heidi enjoys creating and maintaining beautiful spaces in and around my home, connecting with nature, travel, and watching international films. 

Hui-Wen (Alina) Sato, MSN, MPH, RN, CCRN (she/her) has been a pediatric ICU nurse at CHLA since 2010. She blogs regularly for the American Journal of Nursing (AJN) in their blog, Off the Charts. Her writing has also been published in the Oxford Handbook of Meaningful Work, The Healer's Burden, The Intima, as well as the Reflections column for AJN. In September 2017, she delivered a TEDxTalk titled "How Grief Can Enable Nurses to Endure," which was promoted to the main TED.com page in 2020 as "How Grief Helped Me Become a Better Caregiver." She has been featured as a keynote speaker at numerous national nursing conferences. She obtained her Certification in Narrative Medicine through Columbia University. You can find more of her writing at http://heartofnursing.blog.

Janice Whitaker, M.Ed., BSN, RN, CDP (she/her) is a geriatric nurse, educator, and program leader with expertise in aging, dementia care, curriculum development, and community education. Since 2015, she has served as Administrator, Education Program Manager, and Community Liaison for the Tressa Nese and Helen Diskevich Center of Geriatric Nursing Excellence (CGNE) at Penn State Ross and Carol Nese College of Nursing, where she helps lead initiatives focused on education, research, best practices, and community engagement related to older adult care. Janice currently serves as Project Director for the college’s contributions to the Long-Term Care RISE project in partnership with Penn State College of Medicine. She is also involved in the Teaching Nursing Home Project, Age-Friendly Care PA, and Penn State’s Age Friendly University initiative, including leading community education related to living with dementia. Prior to Penn State, she served as a Director of Nursing in a skilled nursing and rehabilitation center. Recognized as a Distinguished Educator in Geriatric Nursing by the National Hartford Center of Gerontological Nursing, Janice brings both professional and personal insight to grief education following the death of her spouse in 2017.

Dr. Julie Kaplow (she/her) is a licensed clinical psychologist, board certified in Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology. She serves as Executive Vice President of Trauma and Grief Programs and Policy at the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute and Executive Director of the Trauma and Grief (TAG) Center at The Hackett Center for Mental Health in Houston. Dr. Kaplow is also Executive Director of the TAG Center at Children’s Hospital New Orleans and Professor of Psychiatry at Tulane University School of Medicine. She is also CEO of the Lucine Center for Trauma and Grief, a group practice that provides no-cost teletherapy to youth exposed to traumas and losses across the states of Texas and Louisiana. In these roles, she oversees the development and evaluation of treatments for traumatized and bereaved youth and disseminates trauma- and bereavement-informed “best practices” to community providers nationwide. Prior to joining the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute, Dr. Kaplow served as Chief of Psychology and Vice Chair for Behavioral Health at Texas Children’s Hospital/Baylor College of Medicine. She received her BA in Psychology from the University of Michigan and her PhD in Clinical Psychology from Duke University. She completed her internship at Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School followed by postdoctoral training at the Center for Medical and Refugee Trauma at Boston Medical Center.

Kailey Bradley, MA, LPCC-S, NCC, FT (she/her) specializes in working with individuals of all ages, with special interest and care given to children’s bereavement, complicated grief, disability equity, neurodiversity, and chronic illness. Kailey worked for 4. 5 years at a local Hospice agency and has provided over 50 workshops and trainings on grief throughout her career thus far. Kailey also has conducted over 100 grief support groups and has a passion for research on methods and strategies for offering creative and engaging bereavement support groups for children. Currently, Kailey is an adjunct professor at Ashland Theological seminary where she teaches grief and crisis counseling courses. Kailey is also currently a doctoral student at Ohio University studying counselor education and supervision. She co-owns Refuge Counseling, LLC a private practice specializing in the intersections of grief, sexuality, chronic illness, and spirituality.

Dr. Kailey Roberts (she/her) is a tenure-track Assistant Professor at Yeshiva University’s Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology and a Consultant Faculty at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), focusing on bereavement and palliative psychology. She earned her PhD in clinical psychology from The New School for Social Research and completed her pre-doctoral internship and a postdoctoral fellowship in geropsychology at the Brooklyn VA. She has specialized training in psycho-oncology and bereavement through National Cancer Institute-funded predoctoral and postdoctoral research fellowships at MSK. Currently, Dr. Roberts is leading research on bereavement risk screening, perinatal loss, and bereavement in chosen families, and is a collaborator on projects related to tailoring interventions for bereaved parents, LGBTQIA+-affirming palliative care, geropsychology training, and grief-informed healthcare. Additionally, she has over a decade of expertise in Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy (MCP), serving as an interventionist, a qualitative methods specialist on adaptation studies, and a training facilitator. Cutting across her work is an investment in optimizing and implementing supports for individuals facing existential distress. In addition to her research and teaching pursuits, Dr. Roberts maintains a clinical practice working with cancer caregivers and bereaved individuals.

Katherine Doebler RN, BSN (she/her) is a compassionate nurse and healthcare leader with over 15 years of experience in hospice, palliative, and serious illness care. She has held roles in palliative care, nephrology, advance care planning, hospice transitional care, and hospice leadership across rural, remote, and telehealth settings. Her expertise includes grief and bereavement, clinical ethics, community and clinician education, and program development. Known for empathetic communication and systems-level insight, she brings lived expertise as a COVID-19 widow to supporting patients, families, and providers through complex illness and loss.

Dr. Leeat Granek (she/her) is a health psychologist and a Professor in the School of Health Policy and Management and the Department of Psychology at York University in Toronto Canada. Dr. Granek conducts research on healthcare professional well-being,  psycho-oncology,  and grief and loss. She also has extensive expertise in qualitative methods and is an Associate Editor of Qualitative Psychology. Dr. Granek has published more than 100 articles on her research in leading journals including Annals of Surgery, Cancer, JAMA Archives, Neurosurgery,  and Psycho-Oncology. Granek’s projects are funded by agencies such as  CIHR, SSHRC, and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. 

Lesa Rae Vartanian, Ph.D. (she/her) is a developmental psychologist and full-time faculty member in Psychology at Purdue Fort Wayne, where she also coordinates the Death Education Certificate Program and has taught “Death & Dying” for over 25 years. She has been a volunteer peer group facilitator and board member for Erin’s House for Grieving Children, a Respecting Choices © trained conversation facilitator, and is presently serving as Guest Editor for an upcoming Special Issue of Behavioral Sciences focused on death education for youth. Lesa is dedicated to empowering youth with the tools to better cope with the mental health crisis everyone faces repeatedly throughout life—bereavement.

Tashel C. Bordere, PhD, CT (she/her) is an internationally-known scholar, author, speaker, consultant, and PI at the Center for Family Policy and Research at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Dr. Bordere is the Past President of the National Alliance for Children’s Grief (NACG) Advisory Board member for the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and past ADEC Board Member. She completed a Forward Promise Fellowship through the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) focused on healing among Black youth. Dr. Bordere’s research focuses on intersectionality cultural trauma, stigmatized loss (gun violence), suffocated grief (a term she coined), Black youth and family grief and rituals. She has received numerous awards including the Outstanding Professional Service in the Field of Death, Dying and Bereavement Award (International Death, Grief, and Bereavement Conference), Dr. Ronald K. Barrett Award (ADEC), Excellence in Engagement in Outreach (MU), and the Outstanding Faculty Mentorship to underrepresented students award (MU). Dr. Bordere has done keynotes, workshops, trainings, and published numerous articles, book chapters, and books related to her research on inequities in loss, cultural healing, and culturally resonant practices. She co-edited and co-wrote the Handbook of Social Justice in Loss and Grief (Routledge). She developed SHED Grief Tools for Schools. Dr. Bordere has been featured in national/international media.

Dr. Srikumar (she/her) is an Assistant Professor of Medicine (Section of Medical Oncology) and cares for patients as part of the Center for Gastrointestinal Cancers at Smilow Cancer Hospital and Yale Cancer Center in New Haven. Dr. Srikumar’s clinical and research efforts center around caring for young adults with gastrointestinal malignancies. She is also passionate about medical education, professional fulfillment, and mental health and wellness in medical training. She serves as an Assistant Program Director of the Yale Medical Oncology-Hematology Fellowship Program.

PICU Tech at OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital

Zack Wheat, M.Div, BCC, (he/him) is a clinical chaplain at Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in Portland, Oregon. His professional interests include the intersection of spirituality with grief and bereavement, pediatric palliative care, excellence in communication, and reminding all those who interact with the healthcare system that at the end of the day we are all human beings. As and extension of his work in the hospital Zack spends time volunteering in the grief and bereavement space currently volunteering at The Dougy Center but also having spent time at The Austin Center for Grief and Loss, in Austin, Texas. When Zack gets free time he enjoys swimming, biking, and running in that order, hanging out with is two dogs and fiancé, and playing video games from time to time.

Jane Abbottsmith (she/her) is an MD/PhD student in the School of Medicine and the Department of Religious Studies at Yale University. Her research examines grief and despair in theology and medicine.

Dr. Calkins (he/him) has over 40 years of experience in healthcare organizations and education.  His perspective is informed by previous roles at Aetna, the Penn State Hershey Medical Center, and through a variety of roles in hospitals and other health care organizations (Miami Children’s Hospital, Eden Hospital Medical Center, the Hospital Council of Western Pennsylvania others). His recent research has focused on changing priorities identified through Community Health Needs Assessments and related responses. Other research interests focus on access to care in rural communities, especially Women’s Health and Behavioral Health. Dr. Calkins is the Executive Director of both the residential and online MHA programs at Penn State University, where he also serves as Faculty Associate to the Pennsylvania Office of Rural Health, and Chairs the Board of Directors for Centre Volunteers in Medicine, a free clinic serving the uninsured. He earned his BS and PhD in Health Policy and Administration at Penn State.