Dr. Grace Christ:

Dr. Grace Christ is Professor Emerita and Research Scientist at the Columbia University School of Social Work. Formerly, the director of social work at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, Grace is a founding and past president of the Association of Oncology Social Workers, and coeditor of the Handbook of Oncology Social Work (Oxford University Press). She is a cofounder and was board chair of the Social Work Hospice and Palliative Care Network (SWHPN) through early 2020, an organization that emerged from the Social Work Leadership Development Awards Program of the Soros Foundation’s Project on Death in America (PDIA), which Dr. Christ directed. Meeting the moment after the collapse of the Twin Towers, she developed the FDNY-CSU/Columbia University Family Program, which provided both intervention and research on the experiences of families of firefighters who died in the World Trade Center disaster on 9/11/01. Grace is a recipient of the National American Cancer Society’s Distinguished Service Award, the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization’s Research Award, and PDIA’s Career Achievement Award. Among other publications, her book Healing Children’s Grief (Oxford University Press) was recognized by the International Association of Palliative Care leadership as one of twelve books providing critical new directions in the field of palliative care for the twenty-first century.

Susan Blacker:

Susan Blacker, MSW, RSW has worked in cancer care and palliative care for over 25 years as a direct practice social worker, educator and program leader, both in Canada and the United States. Susan was in the first cohort of  Social Work Leadership Development Award recipients in 2000 and was the co-chair (with Dr. Grace Christ) of the Social Work Leadership in Palliative and End of Life Care Summits in 2002 and 2004.  She was a founding board member of the Social Work Hospice Palliative Care Network (SWHPN).  She has written several book chapters and over a dozen articles on topics related to social work and palliative care, person-centred care and social work leadership. Susan received the SWHPN Leadership Award in 2010 and the Canadian Association of Psychosocial Oncology’s  Excellence in Education Award in 2013.

Dr. Gary Stein

Gary L. Stein, JD, MSW, is Professor at the Wurzweiler School of Social Work – Yeshiva University (New York, NY, USA), where he is a tenured faculty member in the master’s and doctoral programs. He is also the director of the Gerontology and Palliative Care Programs for MSW students and for clergy and social workers, and Continuing Education. He is PI of the study, “Project Respect: Experiences of seriously ill LGBTQ+ patients and partners with their healthcare providers,” which has been published in Health Affairs Scholar, the Journal of Palliative Medicine, and Palliative and Supportive Care. Prof. Stein has been Vice Chair of the Social Work Hospice and Palliative Care Network from 2006 to 2020. He was awarded the Health and Aging Policy Fellowship, a Fulbright Specialist Program Award, and the Social Work Hospice and Palliative Care Network’s 2017 Career Achievement Award. Prof. Stein received his JD from New York Law School and MSW from Rutgers University.

Judy Peres

Judith R. Peres, LCSW-C, is an expert consultant in nursing home, palliative, & end-of-life care as well as a clinical social worker serving Medicare beneficiaries for over 50 years. She served on the Board of Directors of the Social Work Hospice & Palliative Care Network at its inception in 2007. She has shaped national policy through work at the US HHS Assistant Secretary for Planning & Evaluation and formerly as VP for Policy & Advocacy at the “Last Acts Partnership”. In 2015 she received PDIA Social Work Career Achievement Award.