About Us
Terry Altilio and Vickie Leff co-designed this Project/Website in order to share the wealth of information about Palliative Social Work in one place.
Project Advisory Council Members
We are very grateful to our Advisory Council Members for their expertise, commitment and passion.
Cathy Berkman
Cathy Berkman, PhD, MSW, is Professor and Director of the Palliative Care Fellowship at the Graduate School of Social Service, Fordham University (New York, NY). She teaches in the MSW and PhD programs. Her primary research is on the experience of seriously ill LGBTQ+ people with healthcare and also on the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors in relation to advance care planning of older Chinese and Korean immigrants. She is a Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine and of the Gerontological Society of America.
Mei Kamada
Mei Kameda, MSW, LCSW, APHSW-C is a palliative care social worker for inpatient and outpatient settings. Mei finds deep meaning in understanding how each individual defines an acceptable quality of life and supporting them in aligning their care with those values. Mei’s professional interest include normalizing experiences of grief, exploring health care bioethics, and the use of language in health care settings to promote patient-centered and inclusive delivery of care. Mei currently serves on the Board of Directors for Social Work Hospice and Palliative Care Network (SWHPN) and co-chairs its Education Committee.
Nina Laing
Alisha McQuire
Alisha McGuire (she/her) is a Pediatric Palliative Care Social Worker and Grief Counselor with Riley Children’s Health. Alisha is passionate about improving the care of children experiencing serious illness and their families through clinical practice as well as macro level work in advocacy, education, and research. She is an active member of SWHPN serving on the Board of Directors and AAHPM’s Pediatric Council.
Colleen Mulkerin
Colleen M. Mulkerin, MSW, LCSW Colleen Mulkerin is a social work leader dedicated to palliative care, interprofessional practice, and advance care planning. At Hartford Hospital since 1992, she became Director of Social Work in 2014 and Spiritual Care in 2015 and previously led the development and growth of the Palliative Care program from 2005–2021. She co-chaired the NASW Task Force developing Practice Standards for Serious Illness Care and served on the SWHPN Board. Her publications include chapters in major palliative social work texts.
Stacy Remke
Stacy S. Remke, MSW, LICSW, APHSW-C
Stacy recently retired Senior Clinical Instructor at the University of Minnesota’s School of Social Work, teaching in the areas of health, disabilities, aging, grief and loss, integrative behavioral/mental health and inter-professional collaborative practice. Her clinical experience includes 27 years as a pediatric palliative care social worker. She was a founding leader of the palliative care service at Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of MN. Stacy is also a Co-Investigator and consultant for the NCI funded curriculum development project Education in Palliative and End-of-Life Care for Pediatrics, “EPEC-Peds.”
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.
Jamie Newell
Alice Leveston
Alice Leveston, MSW, LICSW, APHSW-C is a Clinical Social Worker with more than 45 years of practice in health care, specializing primarily in Geriatrics and Palliative Care. Alice has extensive experience working with patients and families facing chronic, complicated or serious illness, and end of life issues through her employment as both a Palliative Care Social Worker, a Hospice Social Worker and a Social Worker at a long-term acute care hospital (LTAC). Alice was a Clinical Instructor for the Smith College School for Social Work, training Smith MSW candidates in both Palliative Care and Geriatrics.
Staci Hallanzzini
Staci Hallanzzini, MSW, LCSW is an inpatient palliative care social worker with the Connections team at Providence Portland Medical Center. She earned her master’s degree in social work from Eastern Washington University in 2012 and has worked in various healthcare settings for the last 14 years. She is currently the Lead Social Worker for the department, covering for the manager when needed, providing CSWA supervision and working on projects.
Christine Beamon
Christine Beamon is a palliative medicine social worker at White Plains Hospital since 2017. Ms. Beamon received her Master of Social Work from New York University Silver School of Social Work; she is licensed as Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), holds certification in case management (CCM) and palliative and hospice social work (APHSW-C). She has presents nationally in serious illness care, taught as an adjunct professor for Fordham’s Graduate School of Social Service and is a published author.
"Social Workers don't look away"
Diane Meier, 2022. Oxford Textbook of Palliative Social Work