Webinars: Faculty and Moderators

Marie Abraham

Marie Abraham is a Senior Policy and Program Specialist for the Institute for Patient- and Family-Centered Care. Since joining the Institute in 1996, her work has included providing consultation to hospitals and ambulatory care practices, assisting with the development of resource materials, co-authoring publications, and serving as a planner and faculty member for Institute conferences, seminars, and other training efforts. Over the past decade, Marie has served as a consultant for the Vermont Oxford Network, an international collaborative committed to improving the safety and quality of care for newborn infants and their families. Marie has also worked on several national quality improvement initiatives focusing on maternity and normal newborn care and primary care for children and adults with chronic conditions.

Prior to joining the Institute, Marie worked as a direct service provider to young children and their families and as a trainer of trainers in the field of early childhood special education. She holds an undergraduate degree in Psychology and received her master's degree in Early Childhood Special Education from The George Washington University. Marie also brings personal perspective and passion to her work. Marie lives in Connecticut with her three sons, one of whom required intensive therapy and early intervention for his first six years.

Marie is featured in the webinars Hospitals and Communities Advancing Patient- and Family- Centered Care: A Beginner's Guide and Patient- and Family-Centered Approaches in Transitions from NICU/PICU to Home and serves as a moderator on several other webinars.

Kristina Andersen

Kristina Andersen, BSN, RN, SMART Discharge Project Coordinator, was initially hired at Anne Arundel Medical Center in 2002 as a new graduate nurse for the Joint and Spine Center. In 2004, she was selected to perform the role of charge nurse on an interim basis, but quickly earned the title of Unit Charge Nurse. In that role, Kristina served on various unit and hospital committees and councils, including Chair for the hospital-wide Charge Nurse committee. Most recently, she was selected to serve as Project Coordinator for the SMART Discharge protocol, an initiative funded by a Picker Institute grant. In this position, she works with patients, families, and hospital staff to develop, coordinate, and initiate the SMART discharge protocol.

Kristina is featured in the webinar The SMART Discharge—An 'Always' Event

Kelly Barmer

Kelly Barmer became a peer visitor after her husband, JP, was paralyzed in a motorbike accident in 2006. After sustaining a T4 complete spinal cord injury along with a Traumatic Brain Injury, JP spent over a year involved in inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation. JP overcame many obstacles and defied medical odds in many ways with his recovery. JP became one of the first peer visitors at Vanderbilt as a way to give back and help others in similar situations. Kelly was also trained and together they became the first husband/wife peer visiting team at Vanderbilt. Aside from peer visiting, Kelly works for Alive Hospice, Inc. as an Account Executive where her role is to educate doctors, nurses, case managers, and social workers on end-of-life care. She and JP have an 8-month-old daughter, Reagan.

Kelly is featured in the webinar Patient and Family-Centered Care in Adult Critical Care Units.

Patty Black

Patty Black graduated with a degree in Business Management with an emphasis on organizational behavior, theory, and design. She used this education to help develop a county-wide project that trained and supported pastoral care-teams to provide both assessment and support for individuals and families confronting life crises. Upon receiving less than adequate health care that resulted in life threatening experiences, she has developed a passion for the patient/provider partnership and the voice of the patient. She has served on the Oregon State Task Force on Patient-Centered Primary Care Home Standards implementation as well as the PCPCH Drafting the Rule into Law Committee. She is an IHI National Patient Advocate and has participated as a keynote presenter in the Oregon Health Care Quality Corporation's Learning from the Best: Patient Engagement and Leadership. Patty presented at a statewide conference, Place Matters: Working Together to Create Healthy Communities,and spoke at The Value of Story, Aligning Forces for Quality Consumer Representative Meeting, San Francisco. She is the Program Coordinator for the Patient Advisory Council for PeaceHealth Medical Group in Eugene, OR. Additionally, Patty has served on a regional network of care project for cancer navigation. Patty is passionate about gardening, mostly ornamentals, cats, and the game of tennis.

Patty is featured in the webinar Preparing for Collaboration with Patient and Family Advisors.

Paul Boucher

Paul Boucher, MD, is an Intensive Care Physician and has been in practice since 2000. He is the Medical Director of the Cardiovascular ICU at the Foothills Hospital in Calgary, Canada. He has been the Co-Chair of the Patient- and Family-Centered Care Committee for the past three years. Community members and a wide variety of professionals serve on this committee which is tasked with improving the quality of care in the adult intensive care units in Calgary through quality improvement projects surrounding end-of-life care and patient and family satisfaction.

Paul is featured in the webinar ngaging Patients and Families and the Community as Partners in Patient Safety.

Kathy Conaboy

Kathy Conaboy is a full-time Family Consultant with The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). Kathy serves as a strategic partner and ally to the institution. In her role, Kathy brings the family voice to strategic operating committees, projects, and initiatives across the organization in support of the hospital's mission and commitment to advancing patient- and family-centered care and improving patient safety. She is also a key leader in promoting the overall patient and family experience by sharing her son's story as a longtime patient at CHOP. Kathy realized the importance of the patient- and family-centered team approach to medical care and the critical role it played in her son's recovery.

Kathy Conaboy is featured in the webinar Responding to Medical Errors in a Patient- and Family-Centered Environment.

Maureen Connor

Maureen Connor, RN, MPH, has served as the Executive Director of Quality and Safety for Patient Care Services at North Shore Medical Center (NSMC) in Salem, MA and Vice President for Quality Improvement and Risk Management at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI). Maureen played a major role in integrating patient safety into the culture of DFCI, collaborating with patients and family members from DFCI's patient and family advisory councils on both infection control and patient safety issues. She worked with the MA Coalition for the Prevention of Medical Errors to assist health care organizations throughout the Commonwealth in implementing state mandated patient and family advisory councils. Maureen was a co-author of the publication, When Things go Wrong: Responding to Adverse Events, a consensus statement of the Harvard affiliated hospitals regarding communicating with patients about errors and adverse events.

Maureen is featured in the webinar Responding to Medical Errors in a Patient- and Family-Centered Environment.

Liz Crocker

Liz Crocker is a successful businesswoman, author, teacher, environmentalist, and health care advocate. She consults with hospitals in Canada and the U.S., and serves as a Simulated Patient and Clinical Teaching Associate with the Dalhousie School of Medicine. Liz established the Child Life Program at the IWK Children's Hospital which developed an international reputation of excellence. She is a life-long strong and vocal advocate for children and youth and has served as Chair of the Canadian Institute for Child Health and President of the Association for the Care of Children's Health. Liz has presented on the topic of patient- and family-centered communication at Institute seminars.

Liz is featured in the webinar Enhancing Patient- and Family-Centered Communication at the Bedside and Beyond.

Nancy DiVenere
Nancy DiVenere is President of Parent to Parent USA, a non-profit committed to promoting access, quality, and leadership in parent to parent support nationally for families with a member who has a special health care need, disability, or mental health issue. Nancy is the founder and former Executive Director (1987-2004) of Parent to Parent of Vermont, a statewide family support organization dedicated to helping families find support from other parents, health care professionals, and their communities. During her tenure, Nancy directed the Family Infant and Toddler Program (Part C of IDEA), serving Vermont's largest population of infants and toddlers and their families. She served as adjunct faculty in the Department of Pediatrics, University of Vermont College of Medicine, developing curriculum, preparing Family Faculty, and conducting seminars for medical students and pediatric residents on caring for children with special health needs.

Nancy has contributed to several articles and books, most recently with Turnbull, A., Summers, J.A., Turnbull, R. (2007), Family Supports and Services in Early Intervention: A Bold Vision, Journal of Early Intervention; and with Earp, J.L., French, E.A., Gilkey, M.B. (2008), Patient Advocacy for Health Care Quality: Strategies for Achieving Patient-Centered Care, Jones and Bartlett Publishers.

Nancy received the Robert Wood Johnson Community Health Leadership award in 1998. Nancy is on the Board of Directors of the Institute for Patient- and Family-Centered Care. Her work continues to be inspired by her son, Brett.

Nancy is featured in the webinar Developing Patient- and Family-Centered Peer Support Programs.

Deborah Dokken
Deborah Dokken, MPA, is the former Associate Director of The Initiative for Pediatric Palliative Care. A bereaved parent, she has been involved in a number of programs that improve family support and enhance family participation in health care. Deborah serves on the PANDA and Ethics committees at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, DC.

She was a reviewer for the IOM report, When Children Die, and served for three years on the FDA's Pediatric Advisory Committee.

Deborah is featured in the webinar The Road Less Traveled: Integrating Pediatric Palliative Care and Patient- and Family-Centered Care.

Marlene Fondrick
Marlene Fondrick brings experience as a clinician and an administrator in both maternity care and pediatrics. She was formerly the Vice President for Patient Care Services at Children's Hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota. She also served as a Vice President for the two merged Children's Hospitals in the Twin Cities. For many years, she was the staff liaison to a very successful family advisory council at Children's Hospital of St. Paul.

Marlene has broad experience in perinatal settings, including serving as the Director of a perinatal center. For several years she was a facilitator for NACHRI's Focus Groups for newborn intensive care, working with neonatologists and nursing leaders on quality improvement projects. Marlene works with the Institute for Patient- and Family-Centered Care in providing on-site training and technical assistance for hospitals. She has served as a faculty member for several of the Institute's in-depth seminars. She also brings to her work with the Institute the perspectives of a deeply caring grandmother of a young child who has had cancer.

Marlene was honored as one of 100 Distinguished Graduates from the University of Minnesota at the School of Nursing's Centennial Celebration in November 2009.

Marlene is featured in the webinars Advanced Session: Sustaining and Enhancing a Patient- and Family-Advisory Council and Creating Patient and Family Advisory Councils-Getting Started.

Terry Griffin
Terry Griffin is a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner at St. Alexius Medical Center in Hoffman Estates, IL. Terry is a member of the National Association of Neonatal Nurses and the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses, and has given many years of service to the March of Dimes, Chicago Chapter.

Terry has published and presented on many nursing topics, including interventions that reduce stress of parents of hospitalized infants and the challenges nurses and families face caring for babies in the NICU. Her research has examined the parental response to prenatal tours of the NICU and safety of parental involvement in the care of their hospitalized infants.

Terry is featured in the webinars Applying Patient- and Family-Centered Concepts in Dealing with Challenging Situations with Patients and Families, Changing the View that Families are Visitors—Strategies that Support Family Presence in Newborn Intensive Care and Pediatric Settings, Enhancing Patient- and Family-Centered Communication at the Bedside and Beyond, Patient and Family Involvement in Change of Shift Report, and Patient- and Family-Centered Approaches in Transitions from NICU/PICU to Home.

Bev Johnson
Bev Johnson is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Institute for Patient- and Family-Centered Care. Bev offers 25 years of experience in leading non-profit organizations. She has clinical and administrative experience in an academic medical center and has served as a hospital trustee and a trustee for other organizations. She has provided technical assistance and consultation to over 250 hospitals, federal, state, and provincial agencies, and community organizations. She is a mother of four children, two are writers and two are health care professionals. She also has six grandsons and one granddaughter.

Bev is featured on the webinars Advancing the Practice of Patient- and Family-Centered Care: The Role of Leaders and Patient- and Family-Centered Practice: Practical Approaches to Measuring Outcomes.

Joanna Kaufman
As a member of the Institute for Patient- and Family-Centered Care team, Joanna Kaufman, RN, MS, collaborates on a variety of projects that involve research, writing, editing, and analysis. She is a writer and editor of the Institute's newsletter, Pinwheel Pages, the Institute's website, and is a contributing writer for New Health Partnerships

Joanna is a registered nurse with more than 20 years of pediatric clinical and patient- and family-centered care experience gained in the trenches of Strong Memorial Hospital, Charity Hospital of New Orleans, and Johns Hopkins Hospital. She is the former Executive Director of a SPRANS Project (Special Project of Regional and National Significance) funded by the Department of Health and Human Services Bureau of Maternal/Child Health, and the former Vice-President of Quality Management for a managed care organization exclusively serving children with special health care needs. Joanna has served as a grant reviewer for numerous federal agencies. She was a member of the editorial advisory boards for two professional journals, serves as a reviewer for the Journal of Adolescent Medicine, and was a board member for both the Case Management Society of America and the National Association for Home Care.

In 2009, Joanna became a registered World Health Organization Patients for Patient Safety Champion.

Joanna is featured in the webinars Collaborating with Youth and Families to Create Successful Transitions to Adult Health Care and The SMART Discharge—An 'Always' Event and serves as a moderator on several other webinars.