2022 Symposium Keynote Speakers
The National Symposium for Academic Palliative Care Education and Research is thrilled to present these innovative clinician educators as our Keynote Speakers for the 2022 Symposium. Additional speakers will be announced in the weeks and months ahead.
Jean Watson, PhD, RN, AHN-BC, FAAN
Nurse educator, clinician, and innovator who developed the Theory of Human Caring
Jean Watson, PhD, RN, AHN-BC, FAAN, is the Founder and Director of the Watson Caring Science Institute, a nonprofit organization serving to advance the philosophies, theories, and practices of Human Caring. She is Distinguished Professor and Dean Emerita, at University of Colorado Denver, College of Nursing Anschutz Medical Center, where she held the nation’s first endowed Chair in Caring Science for 16 years.
An innovator and pioneer in caring science, Dr. Watson is the author of Theory of Human Caring, a philosophy that identifies 10 factors designed to balance the cure orientation of medicine with nursing’s values, knowledge, and unique approach to caring-healing arts.
Dr. Watson holds 15 honorary doctoral degrees and has received numerous national and international awards, including the Fetzer Institute Norman Cousins Award, the Fulbright Research Award in Sweden, The Hildebrand Center for Compassion in Medicine Award Notre Dame University, and the Academy Integrative Medicine and Healing Award.
In 2013, Dr. Watson was inducted as a Living Legend by the American Academy of Nursing, its highest honor.
Deborah Grassman, NP
Clinician, author, and national expert in caring for veterans nearing end of life
Deborah Grassman, NP, is a mental health nurse practitioner and a former Director of Hospice for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. During her 30-year career with that agency she cared for more than 10,000 veterans nearing and/or at the end of life.
Her expertise in identifying the unique needs of dying veterans was the basis for the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization’s (NHPCO) We Honor Veterans program.
Grassman is the author of two books, “Peace at Last” and “The Hero Within”; is a contributing author to four textbooks; and has written 25 published articles about the issues facing veterans at the end of life. She is a TEDx Talk presenter and her work has been featured in five documentary films.
In 2002, she introduced “pinning ceremonies” to honor dying veterans – a ceremony that has now become standard practice in hospices and long-term-care facilities throughout the nation.
Jeri Miller, PhD, MS
Chief of the Office of End-of-Life Research and Palliative Care Research at the National Institute of Nursing Research
Jeri L. Miller, PhD, MS, Msc, is the Chief of the Office of End-of-Life and Palliative Care Research (OEPCR) at the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Previously the Head of Office of Research on End-of-Life Science and Palliative Care Investigator Training, and Education in NINR’s Division of Science Policy and Liaison, Dr. Miller is an international speaker and author.
She has received numerous awards and honors for her research at NIH and leadership at NINR, including the National Institute of Nursing Research’s Team Award, and the Presidential Citation from the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine in 2018.
Dr. Miller serves on a variety of NIH and national committees with an emphasis on the care for persons and families faced with the hardships that accompany advanced illness. She is a former clinician as well as administrator of programs within the Ontario Ministry of Health in Canada.
Joan Fisher, MD, PhD, FAAP
Expert clinician-educator in palliative medicine and pediatric hematology-oncology
Joan M. Fisher, M.D, PhD, FAAP, is an inspiring and recognized clinician-educator who has dedicated her career to helping improve care for pediatric patients with serious illnesses and their families.
She is board certified in both Hospice and Palliative Medicine and Pediatric Hematology-Oncology. She attended Stanford School of Medicine and has worked at top hospitals including Lucile Salter Packard Children’s Hospital-Stanford and Sutter Health.
Dr. Fisher is published in Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy in Pediatrics, and works in higher education at Stanford University School of Medicine as the Director of Outreach in the Department of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Stem Cell Transplant.