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In-Person Detailed Agenda
This CSU Shiley Haynes Institute for Palliative Care National Symposium awards 6 CE hours for attending all sessions of the Symposium. These CEs are provided by the California State University San Marcos Extended Learning office. This provider is approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider #CEP 11422, and by the Board of Behavioral Sciences, provider #PCE-3405. California State University is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC).
Thursday, June 4, 2026
Registration Opens: Check-In
11:30am – 12:15pm
Lunch
12:00pm – 1:00pm
Welcome Remarks
1:00pm – 1:15pm
*Plenary Session #1: Roxana E. Delgado, PhD, MS, PNAP
1:15pm – 2:30pm
Military and veteran caregivers play a critical yet often underrecognized role in supporting Veterans with complex physical, cognitive, and behavioral health needs. While their contributions are essential to long-term care and recovery, caregivers themselves frequently experience significant challenges to their own health and wellbeing, including chronic stress, burnout, social isolation, and unmet healthcare needs.
This session integrates current research with lived experiences to describe the multidimensional impact of caregiving within military and veteran communities. Drawing on emerging data and personal narratives, we will explore the biopsychosocial effects of caregiving and the gaps that persist across healthcare and support systems.
Participants will gain insight into evidence-informed strategies and innovative models to strengthen caregiver support in palliative and interdisciplinary care settings. The session will highlight opportunities to design more responsive, equitable, and caregiver-centered systems, ensuring that those who care for our nation’s warfighters are themselves seen, supported, and sustained.
*This presentation will be live streamed and recorded.
Break
2:30pm – 2:45pm
Breakout Session #1
2:45pm – 3:30pm
*Room A
Myron Cloyd, DMI, BCC
Organization: Memorial Hermann Heath System
This interactive workshop reframes deep listening as a clinical and ethical intervention in palliative care. Participants examine how system pressures shape listening behaviors and contribute to moral distress, while learning practical strategies to deepen listening at the bedside and within teams. Through experiential exercises, case-based discussion, and reflective tools, attendees gain language and frameworks that align care with patient values, strengthen interdisciplinary collaboration, and support sustainable, compassion-rooted practice.
*This presentation will be live streamed and recorded.
Room B
Rudo Nyamapfumba, DSW, LCSW-S, APHSW-C
Organization: Accentcare Hospice
Past research has identified conflicts in spiritual beliefs and comfort care goals as a barrier to utilization of hospice and palliative care services for African Americans (AAs). There is a need to explore the identified barrier and develop interventions that will improve the understanding and acceptance of hospice services by AAs. The goal of the study was to explore barriers experienced by providers when providing spirituality services and explore how cultural competence is reflected in current practices at the study site when working with AAs.
Room C
Lena Allen, MSW, LCSW, and Renié Rondon-Jackson, Ph.D, LCSW
Organization: California State University Monterey Bay
This interactive workshop models a case based Interprofessional Education experience designed to strengthen interdisciplinary serious illness communication. Participants will be assigned professional roles and work through a palliative care case using a structured team process that highlights role clarity, collaboration, emotional dynamics, and shared decision making. Through guided reflection and facilitated debrief, attendees will explore how team functioning influences patient and family experience. Grounded in compassion and relational presence, the session offers a practical, replicable framework for embedding interdisciplinary serious illness communication training into academic curricula and clinical education settings.
Room D
Jocelyn Jiao, MD, MS, & Irina Skylar-Scott, MD
Organization: Stanford Medicine
A Biomarker Revolution is On: The Alpha-Synuclein Education & Disclosure Project There’s a revolution brewing in biomarker discovery focused on neurodegenerative diseases, with good reason. The population living with dementia is expected to triple, affecting more than 150 million people by 2050. The major culprit: neurodegenerative diseases. Alzheimer’s, Lewy body, Parkinson’s and other such diseases are notoriously difficult to diagnose. For patients and caregivers, the downside is delayed or lengthy diagnostic journeys, increased existential distress, delayed treatment and connection to appropriate resources. The good news: transformative advances in blood- and CSF-based biomarkers are revolutionizing the diagnosis and monitoring of neurodegenerative diseases. Notably, Alzheimer’s biomarkers and emerging Lewy body biomarkers that can yield more accurate diagnoses earlier in the disease process while being less invasive and less costly than traditional approaches. The ripple effect of these biomarkers is potentially massive, for patients and families, as well as for primary care providers, neurology specialists, and the palliative care community. We need to understand how the knowledge of one’s biomarker status might impact one’s outlook, planning for the future, and health. We also need to understand the impact on caregivers. And we need to pursue medical advances with compassionate care in mind, across the continuum of care. Presenters will highlight their study, known as the Alpha-Synuclein Education & Disclosure Project, including its aims and design.
Break
3:30pm – 3:45pm
Breakout Session #2
3:45pm – 4:30pm
*Room A
Jennifer Jessen, EdD, RN, CNOR, FNAP & Theresa Jizba, DNP, AGACNP-BC, ACHPN & Meghan Potthoff, PhD, APRN-NP, CPNP-AC & Amanda Kirkpatrick, PhD, RN, FAAN & Amy Abbott, PhD, RN & Margo Minnich, DNP, RN & Rebecca Davis, DNP, PHNA-BC & Johnathan Hogzett, MSN, RN & Adam Traen DNP, RN
Organization: Creighton University
The INTERprofessional Advance Care Planning ConversaTions (INTERACT) program is a community-based educational initiative designed to prepare students to facilitate meaningful advance care planning discussions with adults in community settings. Student teams from nursing, social work, and business collaborate with community partners to guide conversations that address healthcare, financial, and funeral planning. Guided by a Community and Client Advisory Board and supported by an AI-assisted listening tool, the program emphasizes authentic community engagement and experiential learning. This presentation describes the development and implementation of the INTERACT clinic and shares early evaluation findings on student learning and preparedness to facilitate values-based conversations.
*This presentation will be live streamed and recorded.
Room B
Alessandra Colfi, PhD, RYT-200
Organization: UC San Diego Health, CSUSM, San Diego Cancer Research Institute
Narrative Medicine and Narrative Therapy through Expressive Arts Therapy invite participants to explore how story, images, movement, and metaphor foster meaning-making and healing in palliative care. Narrative medicine integrates patients’ lived experiences into clinical practice to deepen empathy, presence, and understanding of illness. Rooted in the work of White and Epston, narrative therapy separates people from problems and honors lived experience as knowledge. Through collaborative arts-based practices, participants engage in storying and re-storying illness, caregiving, loss, resilience. This experiential presentation demonstrates how externalizing and re-authoring narratives can cultivate agency, dignity, compassion, trust, and holistic, person-centered care for patients, families, clinicians.
Room C
James Cortes¹ & Isabella Cortes, BS² & Robert Nguyen, MD, FAAHPM³
Organization: Irvine Valley College¹, UCLA², VITAS Healthcare³
Hospice care has a higher level of care available for patients when symptoms become difficult to manage, these services are underutilized. This study evaluated patients who were discharged to home hospice from the emergency department to see if a higher level of care eased the transition during this vulnerable period. Results indicated that only 1.4% of patients were readmitted to the hospital after receiving these services, where the majority of patients had improved symptom management and increased support for their families.
Room D
Heather Valente, MSPAS, PA-C¹ & Christian Martin-Gill, MD, MPH² & Richard Wadas, MD³
Organization: UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh¹, UPMC Emergency Department², UPMC Emergency Department³
This presentation details the development of a specialized EMS hospice protocol designed to address gaps in end-of-life emergency care within Pennsylvania. Using a rigorous three-stage framework, a multidisciplinary task force synthesized national standards with state-specific guidelines to reduce goal-discordant interventions. The resulting protocol, Care of the Hospice Patient, introduces novel clinical content, including pediatric-specific dosing and standardized hospice handoff strategies. Endorsed by a regional council, this project may provide a scalable model for fostering interprofessional collaboration to bridge the gap between emergency medical services and palliative care.
Welcome Reception & Howell Award Ceremony
4:30pm – 6:30pm
Friday, June 5, 2026
Chair Yoga
7:15am – 8:00am
Check In
7:45am – 8:15am
Breakfast
8:00am – 8:45am
Welcome
8:45am – 9:00am
Breakout Session #3
9:00am – 10:00am
*Room A
Leah Hellwege, BA & Lisell Pacheco, MA
Organization: Elizabeth Dole Foundation
Participants will learn about children and youth as caregivers, “hidden helpers,” and the award-winning resources developed to support them along their caregiving journey. Through hands-on activity, participants will learn about the care tasks provided by hidden helpers when caring for a wounded, ill, or injured service member. The workshop will guide participants through the hidden helper caregiving Activity Book and Journey Map. These tools demonstrate how structured reflection and creative expression can strengthen emotional literacy, resilience, and help-seeking behaviors among all youth. Participants will leave with actionable items to help in implementing these resources to their communities.
*This presentation will be live streamed and recorded.
Room B
Jennifer Ballentine, MA¹ & Lee Ballentine, BS²
Organization: Coalition for Compassionate Care of California¹ & The Mayer Agency²
AI-powered products and services for healthcare delivery, education, and research have exploded. Academic and clinical leaders know they must “get with it” or get left behind but may lack the time, skills, and methodologies to evaluate the vast array of tools. This workshop will provide a framework for evaluating AI offerings and introduce attendees to a sample set of AI applications for immediate use. Attendees will apply the framework to real-world AI tools and gain practice in growing meaningful connections between humans and AIs with the power to improve compassionate care.
Room C
Maliheh Bakhshi, DNP, FNP-BC
Organization: CSU Monterey Bay
When Caring Hurts explores the emotional and moral weight carried by NPs, MDs, SWs, chaplains, and other clinicians in palliative and hospice care. Clinicians routinely navigate complex symptom management, high-stakes decision-making, and ethically challenging conversations at the end of life. Over time, this responsibility can lead to burnout, compassion fatigue, or moral injury. This interactive session distinguishes these experiences and examines how isolation intensifies distress. Through guided reflection and peer dialogue, participants will identify practical strategies to strengthen resilience, professional boundaries, and collegial connection. Sustaining clinician well-being protects compassionate presence and ensures meaningful, lasting impact in serious illness care.
Room D: Presentation 1
Lisa Graves, PhD & Claudine Lim Olivia, BA
Organization: CSU San Marcos
9:00am – 9:30am
This collection of studies shows that informant characteristics meaningfully shape how daily functioning is reported and how well those reports align with objective cognitive performance across aging non Hispanic Black, Mexican American, and Asian American adults. Factors such as informant age, sex, education, relationship length, and cohabitation influenced both the severity of reported functional difficulties and the strength of associations with neuropsychological test scores. Patterns differed across racial and ethnic groups, reflecting diverse caregiving roles and relational contexts. These findings highlight the importance of considering who provides functional assessments to ensure more equitable and person centered assessment in dementia care.
Room D: Presentation 2
Nancy Simmers, BS, BSN, RN
Organization: VSED Resources Northwest
9:30am – 10:00am
This workshop will discuss the realities of VSED, Voluntarily Stopping Eating and Drinking, including the expensive preparation necessary, the coordination with local hospice, selection of a care team, and the education of caregivers and family members. It will include an extensive discussion of what VSED is and what it is not. Phases of VSED will be discussed with descriptions of how patients and families and caregivers have coped with each proceeding phase. Suggestions will be offered regarding coordinating with local hospices for referrals and uncomplicated admission. The role of a Death Doula will be shared, based on my personal experience as an RN and Death Doula specializing in the care of patients who choose to hasten their deaths via MAID or VSED. Available resources regarding VSED will be abundantly shared and discussed. These include the VSED Clinical Guidelines published in the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management in 2023 and the VSED-specific Advance Directive written and made available in 2025. The slides I use during the workshop will be available to everyone as will be handouts of resources and helpful checklists that I have developed in my practice.
Break
10:00am – 10:15am
Breakout Session #4
10:15am – 11:15am
*Room A
Claudia Nau, PhD & Mina Habib, MPH & Huong Nguyen, RN, PhD & Lori Viveros, MBA & Haoyuan Zhong, MD, FAAHPM, HMDC & Susan Wang, MD, FAAHPM, HMDC
Organization: Kaiser Permanente Southern California
Palliative care teams are often asked to expand services, however often there is little health system level information on the number of patients who need care and how many patients experience unmet needs given current staffing levels. Kaiser Permanente Southern California developed the Serious Illness Clinical Indicator (SICLI) and we demonstrate how we use this predictive model within a responsible AI framework to support palliative care planning and staffing, with the goal of expanding access, promoting equitable delivery of palliative care, and mitigating clinician burnout.
*This presentation will be live streamed and recorded.
Room B
Jonathan Brooks, MDiv, BCC & Mark Sumrall, MDiv, BCC
Organization: Memorial Hermann Health System
Many interdisciplinary team members have not experienced the impact a skilled, professional, healthcare chaplain can have when present in the plan of care (POC) meeting. Drawing from the experience of thousands of POC meetings, the presenters have identified ten distinct roles a chaplain may assume over the course of a POC meeting. Participants will discover different techniques, methodologies, and interventions utilized by professional healthcare chaplains in such meetings. By the chaplain having an active and more intentional presence within the meeting, the effectiveness of POC meetings is often enhanced.
Room C
Constance Dahlin, MSN, ANP-BC, ACHPN, FCPN, FAAN¹ & Jaime Goldberg, PhD, MSW, LCSW² & David Kozishek, MA, BCC³ & Kashelle Lockman, PharmD, MA & David Wu, MD⁴
Organization: Mass General Brigham Salem Hospital¹, University of Wisconsin-Madison Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work², University of Iowa Health Care Medical Center³, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Gilchrist⁴
This workshop explores common threats to equity within interprofessional palliative care teams and strategies to address them. Participants will engage with the five iterative elements of the SEEDS for Interprofessional Equity within Palliative Care Teams framework through reflection and guided, collaborative activities. Participants will gain practical tools to foster compassionate, psychologically safe, equitable team environments and make small, actionable changes for big impact within their own teams.
Room D: Presentation 1
Karen Nelson, PhD, RN & Eden Brauer, PhD, RN & Mary-Lynn Brecht, PhD & Danice Economou, PhD, RN, CHPN & Barbara Bates-Jenson, PhD, RN, FAAN
Organization: UCLA
10:15am – 10:45am
This study investigated death literacy within a community in the United States using the Death Literacy Index (DLI). As the first DLI investigation in the U.S., this study aimed to 1) establish benchmark DLI scores and 2) examine variability associated with demographics, end-of-life (EOL) experience, and spirituality. Those scoring significantly higher in death literacy included individuals aged 60 and over, widowed individuals, individuals with children outside the home, and those with Medicare insurance. Professional and personal experience with EOL care was strongly associated with higher death literacy, as well as a spiritual background and current spiritual practice.
Room D: Presentation 2
Tarak Doshi, BA
Organization: Akron Children’s Hospital
10:45am – 11:15am
This podium paper presentation will provide a concise and engaging overview of research conducted in pediatric palliative care, highlighting key findings and their implications for improving patient- and family-centered research practices. A podium format allows for clear presentation of the study’s objectives, methods, and results while facilitating discussion about how these findings may inform future palliative care research and clinical practice. This format is well-suited for sharing emerging evidence with an interdisciplinary audience at the symposium. A PowerPoint presentation can also be prepared and tailored to the allotted time to ensure the material is presented clearly and effectively.
Break
11:15am – 11:30am
*Plenary Session #2: Cara L. Wallace, PhD, LMSW, APHSW-C
11:30am – 12:45pm
Increasingly, stories and narratives are utilized in education and clinical experiences. Critical reflection is a core aspect of narrative practice, providing the narrative competence to “recognize, absorb, interpret, and honor” the stories of self and others. In this session, participants will be exposed to literature and theory on narrative practices and will consider how they relate to one’s own role as a professional in palliative care. Drawing from Dr. Wallace’s own interprofessional team experiences, her research, and the impactful stories that shape her own professional work, participants will have the opportunity to learn narrative techniques and engage through interactive exercises and personal reflection surrounding their own stories and the lessons they might impart. Participants will be invited to connect to, interpret, and honor the stories shared during the session as a practical example of how narratives may enrich communication and collaborative practices across palliative care roles and settings.
*This presentation will be live streamed and recorded.
Grab and Go Lunch
12:45pm – 1:15pm
Activities at the In-Person Symposium
Rooted in Compassion: A Collective Expressive Arts Garden 🪴
Hosted by Alessandra Colfi throughout the in-person symposium, this brief Expressive Arts activity invites Symposium participants to contribute to a shared Garden of Compassion, supporting reflection, belonging, and inclusive community connection in Palliative Care.
Expressive Arts Engagement: Wings of Gratitude
Photo Banner: Capture the Moment!
Stone Hearts for Love and Remembrance
Attendees are invited to take a stone heart as a keepsake for remembrance, reflection, and grounding.
