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.

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 offers more than 30 years of experience in leading non-profit organizations. In addition to her clinical and administrative experience in an academic medical center, she has served as a hospital trustee as well as a trustee for other organizations. Bev has provided technical assistance and consultation for advancing the practice of patient- and family-centered care to over 250 hospitals, health systems, federal, state, and provincial agencies, military treatment facilities, and community organizations. Bev assists hospitals and ambulatory programs with changing organizational culture, and facilitates visioning retreats and the integration of patient- and family-centered care concepts in policies, programs, and practices, as well as in facility design and the education of health care professionals.

Bev, who is invited to speak worldwide, has co-authored numerous books and publications on patient- and family-centered practice inpediatrics, newborn intensive care, maternity care, emergency care, geriatrics, and other aspects of adult health care. She has served as executive producer for award winning documentary films and videos. Bev also is the recipient of numerous awards.

Bev is the mother of four children, two of whom are writers and two of whom are health care professionals. She also has six grandsons and two granddaughters.

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 webinar Collaborating with Youth and Families to Create Successful Transitions to Adult Health Care and serves as a moderator on several other webinars.

Deborah Lafond
Deborah Lafond, MS , PNP -BC, is the Nurse Coordinator of the PANDA Program, the Pediatric Palliative care Program at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, DC. Debbie has been a registered nurse for nearly 30 years. She is a nursing scholar on the Nursing Research Committee of the Children's Oncology group and is a founding member of the DC Pediatric Palliative Care Collaboration. She is a trainer for the End of Life Nursing Education Consortium—Pediatric Palliative Care Curriculum.

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

Marie Maes-Voreis
Marie Maes-Voreis, RN, BSN, MA, is the Director of Health Care Homes with the Minnesota Department of Health/ Minnesota Department of Human Services (MDH). Marie brings 32 years of nursing and health care leadership experience to the Health Care Homes project. She is responsible for the program implementation of Health Care Homes legislation for the Minnesota Department of Health and the Minnesota Department of Human Services as a joint government private sector project.

Marie is featured in the webinar Applying Patient- and Family-Centered Concepts and Strategies to the Development of the Medical Home and the Management of Chronic Conditions.

Julie Ginn Moretz
Julie Ginn Moretz, of Augusta, GA, is the Director of Special Projects at the Institute for Patient- and Family-Centered Care and works on a variety of projects to develop partnerships among health care professionals, patients, and families. Before joining the Institute, Julie was the Director of Family Services Development at MCG Health and the Associate Director of the MCG Center for Patient- and Family-Centered Care.

Inspired by her youngest son's battle with heart disease—his multiple heart surgeries and heart transplant-Julie worked with MCG hospital administrators to create a patient- and family-centered environment. In addition to overseeing six departments that supported patient- and family-centered initiatives, she also managed the health system's patient and family advisory councils which provided input in hospital programs to enhance quality and safety. Julie developed the MCG Family Faculty program to incorporate patient- and family-centered care concepts in medical education. She was a faculty tutor for first-year medical students in Essentials of Clinical Medicine as well as the Communication Skills Lab.

Julie and her family were featured in the PBS Remaking American Medicine series, Hand-in-Hand, where she was named a "Champion of Change." Julie, and her husband, David, have three children—two recent college graduates and Daniel, forever 14.

Julie is featured in the webinars Advanced Session: Sustaining and Enhancing a Patient- and Family-Advisory Council, Changing the View that Families are Visitors-Strategies that Support Family Presence in Newborn Intensive Care and Pediatric Settings, Creating Patient and Family Advisory Councils-Getting Started, and Hospitals and Communities Advancing Patient- and Family- Centered Care: A Beginner's Guide.

Kelly Parent
Kelly Parent, BS, PFCC Program Coordinator, University of Michigan, C.S. Mott Children's Hospital and Von Voigtlander Women's Hospital, is the mother of two children, a son who had several surgeries as an infant and a daughter who has been treated for pediatric cancer. With these experiences, Kelly became a volunteer family advisor at the University of Michigan, C.S. Mott Children's Hospital and was subsequently hired as the Children's and Women's PFCC Program Manager.

Kelly is featured in the webinar Through Their Eyes: Collaborating with Patients and Families from Hospital Design through Moving In.

John Reiss
John Reiss, PhD, is the Director of the Health Care Transition Initiative at the University of Florida's Institute for Child Health Policy. Trained as a Counseling Psychologist, John has worked on ways to improve the organization and delivery of patient- and family-centered care for children, youth, and young adults with chronic health conditions for more than 25 years.

John is featured in the webinar Collaborating with Youth and Families to Create Successful Transitions to Adult Health Care.

Christopher Schlaps
Christopher Schlaps, RA, LEED AP, NCARB, is a senior architect and project manager with the Facilities Planning & Development department at the University of Michigan Health System, and has been working in the health care design industry for more than 10 years. Over the past several years, Chris and his colleagues have partnered with patients and families through the institution's PFCC Program to build a patient- and family-centered environment.

Christopher is featured in the webinar Through Their Eyes: Collaborating with Patients and Families from Hospital Design through Moving In.

Juliette Schlucter
Juliette Schlucter, BS, is the parent of two chronically ill young adults and a consultant in the field of patient- and family-centered care. For eighteen years, Juliette collaborated with leaders at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) to advance patient- and family-centered care. At CHOP, she partnered with professionals to create an award-winning Family Faculty program in which parents teach physicians, nurses, and other healthcare professionals about the experience of illness. She wrote and developed Partners for Excellence, a workshop and workbook to teach patients and families about using health care resources effectively.

Juliette's area of interest is in supporting the partnership between health care professionals and the patients and families they serve to affect sustainable change toward a patient- and family-centered culture of care. She has consulted on national patient safety goals, medical education, and served on the board of directors for the Association for the Care of Children's Health.

Juliette is featured in the webinars Enhancing the Collaborative Process: Preparing, Supporting, and Mentoring Staff and Patient and Family Advisors to Advance Patient- and Family-Centered Care and Implementing a Patient and Family Faculty Program to Strengthen a Patient- and Family-Centered Culture.

Terrell Smith
Terrell Smith, MSN, RN, is the Director of Patient- and Family-Centered Care for Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Terrell began her career as a pediatric intensive care unit nurse at The Children's Hospital of Alabama and she has served in Brazil as a Peace Corps volunteer. Terrell has held leadership positions at Children's Hospital of Alabama and Ochsner Hospital in New Orleans. She was Administrative Director/Director of Nursing at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital for thirteen years before assuming her current position in 2005.

Terrell received her undergraduate degree at Samford University in Birmingham, AL, and her graduate degree from the University of Alabama in Birmingham.

Terrell is featured in the webinar Patient and Family-Centered Care in Adult ICU's.

Yeng Yang
Yeng Yang, MD, is an Internal Medicine/ Pediatric physician at Fairview Medical Group and the Chair of the Pediatric Department at Maple Grove Hospital in Minnesota. She is a physician champion for the Health Care Home/Medical Home for Fairview Medical Group. Yeng's professional interest is in reinventing primary care in the context of patient- and family-centered care. She has been involved in this work since 2006 and is proud that her organization has achieved Health Care Home/Medical Home certification. Yeng has worked with the MN Department of Health and Family Voices in their efforts to help other clinics in their efforts gain medical home certification.

Yeng is featured in the webinar Applying Patient- and Family-Centered Concepts and Strategies to the Development of the Medical Home and the Management of Chronic Conditions.