Portfolio

Dr. Alyssa Tilly is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics in the Division of General Medicine and Clinical Epidemiology and the Palliative Care Program at the University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Medicine. She is board certified in Hospice and Palliative Medicine, Internal Medicine, and Pediatrics. She graduated from the University of Alabama School of Medicine and then trained in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at UNC. After serving as chief resident for Med-Peds, she completed fellowship training in Hospice and Palliative Medicine at UNC. Dr. Tilly currently practices both adult and pediatric palliative medicine and serves as the Program

Craig D. Blinderman, M.D., M.A. is the director of the Adult Palliative Care Service at Columbia University Irving Medical Center/NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and the program director of the Bi-Campus (Columbia and Cornell) Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. His academic and personal interests are at the intersection of narrative medicine, philosophy, and contemplative practice in the care of patients with serious illness. His numerous publications address a wide range of topics: early palliative care in lung cancer patients (NEJM, 2010), a differentiated approach to code status (JAMA, 2012), comfort care for the dying (NEJM, 2015), cancer pain management, narrative palliative

Rachel Walker Vandermeer is currently an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at UT Health San Antonio. She is the Inpatient Pediatric Palliative Care Medical Director at University Hospital in San Antonio. As part of her role, she helped develop the University Health Perinatal Palliative Care Program, which provides perinatal palliative care to families expecting a baby with serious illness. Regarding education, she currently participates in in both adult and pediatric hospice and palliative medicine fellowship education, and she is involved in medical student pediatric clerkship education as the Assistant Pediatric Clerkship Director. Lastly, she serves on the Executive Admissions Committee for the

Dr. J. Randall Curtis, MD (deceased) Dr. Curtis has been a pulmonary, critical care, and palliative care physician at Harborview Medical Center at the University of Washington. He also holds the A. Bruce Montgomery – American Lung Association Endowed Chair in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and he is the founding Director of the Cambia Palliative Care Center of Excellence at UW Medicine. He has an active research program with over 25 years of continuous funding from the National Institutes of Health and has also received funding from a number of foundations including the Cambia Health Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation,

Shellie Williams, MD, is an associate professor of medicine at the University of Chicago, where she practices both geriatric and palliative medicine. William’s clinical focus is primarily with aging dementia patients in underserved communities on Chicago’s South Side. Williams is a dedicated teacher, advocate and researcher who focuses much of her work on addressing access and education disparities for patients of color and their caregivers. As a clinician, she provides culturally competent care for patients in inpatient units, outpatient clinics, nursing homes and home hospice. Her scholarly focus is related to dementia education, awareness and resources through a number

Patrick J. Coyne, MSN, ACNS-BC, ACHPN, FAAN, FPCN. Coyne is an assistant professor of palliative care at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston and, for nearly eight years until his retirement last month, was the director of this program. Previously, he was clinical director of the Virginia Commonwealth University/ Massey Cancer Palliative Care Service, where he developed an inpatient unit and worked on statewide initiatives to improve palliative care. A clinical nurse specialist, he is co-PI on several grants to educate rural and community health providers on primary palliative care. He is on the national and international faculty of

Christina Holt, MSN, APRN (BC), ACHPN, OCN. Holt is lead nurse practitioner for the palliative care team at Yale School of Medicine. She began her career as a staff nurse for inpatient gynecology-oncology at Yale-New Haven Health, where she often served as charge nurse. She joined the Yale palliative care team in 2013. She is co-author, with Leslie Blatt, of a chapter in the Core Curriculum for the Hospice & Palliative APRN. She received her undergraduate and graduate nursing degrees from Fairfield University, where she trained as a family nurse practitioner. She holds certifications as an advanced certified hospice and

Frances T. McCarthy, MS, RNC-NIC, CPLC. McCarthy is a clinical coordinator of the Neonatal Comfort Care Program at New York Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of Columbia University. The primary focus of the program is to provide support to women who are pregnant with a baby with a life-limiting diagnosis and who wish to continue their pregnancy. McCarthy has been a bedside NICU nurse for most of her 40-year nursing career. She has lectured internationally about perinatal palliative nursing care. She is the winner of the 2023 Ilene Beal Courageous Provider Award, which honors a pediatric provider who gives exceptional