International Faculty
Renowned academic and healthcare leaders have joined an international collaboration to synthesise the published evidence underpinning the importance of caring and compassion. This peer-reviewed consensus paper will be used to launch the International Charter for Compassion in Heathcare.
The International Faculty is continually being strengthened as we find additional experts who can inform us about different aspects of caring and compassion, of relevance to all aspects of healthcare delivery, professional roles, health professional education, health leadership and culture change.
Faculty members are listed by country (in no particular order):
AUSTRALIA
Marc Cohen
Marie Bismark
Irene Renzenbrink
UNITED STATES
Christopher Germer
Ronald Siegel
Edward Dauer
Beth Lown
Marsha Snyder
Helen Haskel
Ilene Corina
Charlene Phipps
UNITED KINGDOM
Paul Gilbert
Jenny Firth-Cozens
Jocelyn Cornwell
Stephen Smith
Belinda Dewar
Caroline Ellis-Hill
Kathleen Galvin
Les Todres
NEW ZEALAND
Jenny Carryer
Robin Youngson
Rod MacLeod
Sharad Paul
Pat Armitstead
Sue Hawken
Professor Marc Cohen
For the past 2 decades Professor Cohen has been one of Australia’s foremost pioneers of complementary medicine (CM) in the academic arena and he has made significant impacts on education, research, clinical practice and policy. He is a registered medical practitioner in the state of Victoria with a medical degree (with honours), and Bachelor of Medical Science Degree (with honours) from Monash University. He also has a PhD in Traditional Chinese Medicine and a second PhD in biomedical engineering and has a Fellowship of the Australian Medical Acupuncture Society and a Fellowship of the International College of Acupuncture and Electrotherapeutics.
Professor Cohen is currently Foundation Professor of Complementary Medicine at RMIT University, a Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Medical and Health Sciences Education at Monash University, an Expert Advisor to the Therapeutic Goods Administration’s (TGA) Complementary Medicine Evaluation Committee (CMEC) and a member of the National Institute of Complementary Medicine (NICM) Consultative Committee and the National Health and Medical Research Council Grant Review Panel. He is also immediate Past-President and current Board Member of the Australasian Integrative Medicine Association (President from 2000-2007) and has been involved in developing the RACGP curriculum on Integrative Medicine. He is the Past Founding Director of the Centre for Complementary Medicine at the Monash Institute for Health Services Research.
Dr Marie Bismark
Marie is a Senior Fellow (The Melbourne Law Masters) at the Centre for Health Policy, Programs & Economics, at the University of Melbourne. Marie is dual-trained as a doctor and lawyer. In addition to her academic appointment at the University of Melbourne, Marie works as a Consultant to Buddle Findlay’s health law team and serves on the Board of Directors of a number of New Zealand health sector organisations, including the Accident Compensation Corporation. Marie has previously worked as a doctor in a number of New Zealand hospitals, served as a legal adviser to the Health and Disability Commissioner, and completed a Harkness Fellowship in Healthcare Policy at the Harvard School of Public Health. Marie has published widely on no-fault compensation, patient safety, healthcare complaints resolution and the power of apology.
Irene Renzenbrink
A social worker for over thirty years, Irene is an Australian pioneer in palliative care, bereavement support and grief education. In 2001 Irene was included in the Women Shaping the Nation Honour Roll to mark the Centenary of Federation. Irene is a member of the International Work Group on Death, Dying and Bereavement and regularly conducts workshops in Canada, the UK, Ireland and the USA.
Irene is the editor of the “Voices” section of the international journal, Illness, Crisis and Loss. She is also the editor of a new book in preparation for Oxford University Press: “Caregiver Stress and Staff Support in Illness, Dying and Bereavement”.
Christopher K. Germer, Ph.D.
Christopher is a clinical psychologist in the Boston area, specializing in mindfulness- and acceptance-based psychotherapy. Dr. Germer is a Clinical Instructor in Psychology at Harvard Medical School and a founding member of the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy. He conducts workshops and lectures internationally on mindfulness and self-compassion, is a co-editor of Mindfulness and Psychotherapy, and author of The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion: Freeing Yourself from Destructive Thoughts and Emotions.
Ronald D. Siegel, Psy.D.,
Ronald is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychology at Harvard Medical School, a long-time student of mindfulness meditation, and a member of the Board of Directors and faculty of the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy. He teaches internationally about mindfulness and psychotherapy and mind/body treatment and maintains a private clinical practice in Lincoln, Massachusetts. Dr. Siegel is co-author of the self-treatment guide Back Sense, which integrates Western and Eastern approaches for treating chronic back pain, co-editor of Mindfulness and Psychotherapy, and author of a new step-by-step, comprehensive guide for general audiences, The Mindfulness Solution: Everyday Practices for Everyday Problems.
Chris Germer and Ron Siegel are also co-directors of the annual Harvard Medical School Conference on Meditation and Psychotherapy that hosted His Holiness the Dalai Lama in May 2009.
Professor Edward Dauer
Edward is Dean Emeritus of the Sturm College of Law at the University of Denver, where he also taught as Professor of Law from 1985 to 2007. He has held teaching appointments at a number of law schools, including the Yale Law School (from 1974 through 1985) and the University of Southern California (1972 to 1974.) From 1996 through 2006 he also held appointment as Visiting Scholar / Visiting Lecturer at the Harvard School of Public Health.
Edward is the author of five books and numerous articles in the legal and medical literatures. He is a Director of the Colorado Patient Safety Coalition, and serves on a number of other boards and advisory councils of healthcare and health policy organizations. His private practice focuses on conflict management and dispute resolution in medicine and healthcare.
Dr Beth Lown
Beth is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and an internist based at Mt. Auburn Hospital, Cambridge, MA since 1985. She is a graduate of the Harvard Macy Program for Physician Educators, the Rabkin Fellowship in Medical Education, and the Facilitator Training Program of the American Academy on Communication in Healthcare.
Beth is co-director of the 10th Anniversary Rabkin Fellowship in Medical Education and the co-director of the Mount Auburn and HMS Academy Fellowships in Medical Education. She is the Director of Faculty Development for the Department of Medicine at Mt. Auburn Hospital. She is Past-President of the American Academy on Communication in Healthcare (AACH), Co-Chair of Grant Programming for the Kenneth B. Schwartz Center, and a member of the Board of Directors of these organizations, both dedicated to enhancing communication, relationships and compassionate care.
Dr. Lown has taught and assessed interpersonal and communication skills to learners across the continuum of medical education for two decades. She teaches Harvard Medical School students and faculty, and provides faculty development and instructional materials.
Marsha W. Snyder, MD.
Founder and Medical Director of the Center for Physician Success and Wellbeing in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA. Marsha is a board-certified psychiatrist with expertise in physician health and wellbeing. She has been actively involved in the physician health field since 1990, dealing primarily with depression and burnout. In 2002, Marsha developed a severe illness which rendered her unable to walk. Over the next 2 years her condition worsened and she saw many physicians before finding a diagnosis and treatment. Although she is now stable and working full-time, this experience as a patient has greatly influenced her subsequent and ongoing practice.
Marsha provides interventions, conferences and teleconferences for physicians in career success and personal wellbeing based upon resilience and compassionate healing service to patients. Marsha helps physicians reconnect with their inner passion to serve others, increase self-knowledge, and develop a resilient lifestyle.
Helen Haskell
Helen is founder and president of Mothers Against Medical Error (MAME), a South Carolina-based group dedicated to improving patient safety and providing support for patients who have experienced medical injury. For Helen, patient safety is a calling to which she was brought by the death of her fifteen-year-old son Lewis, who died from preventable errors in a South Carolina teaching hospital. In 2005, Helen helped put together a coalition of patients, policymakers, and healthcare providers to pass the Lewis Blackman Patient Safety Act, the first of several South Carolina legislative initiatives addressing healthcare safety and transparency. In 2007, the state of South Carolina created the Lewis Blackman Chair of Patient Safety and Clinical Effectiveness, an endowed professorship named in honour of her deceased son.
Helen is actively involved in state-wide patient safety and quality improvement efforts in South Carolina. MAME also collaborates on a national and international level with other consumer and professional organizations on patient-oriented quality improvement programs, including infection disclosure and prevention, patient-activated rapid response systems, and disclosure of medical error, among others.
Helen holds degrees in Classical Studies from Duke University, Anthropology from Rice University, and Museum Studies from the University of South Carolina.
Ilene Corina
Ilene is a nationally recognized advocate and community health speaker for patient safety. She is the president and co-founder of PULSE New York. A member of the board of the National Patient Safety Foundation, Ilene co-chaired the Patient and Family Advisory Council from 2002-2006. In 2002, she spearheaded the first Patient Safety Awareness Week. Ilene is a board member of the Joint Commission and serves on many committees including the Patient and Family Advisory Group of Joint Commission International.
A popular lecturer, Ilene has spoken at many medical conferences, hospitals and healthcare organizations throughout the country. She helps doctors, nurses and hospital administrators to understand the patient’s role in patient safety. She also helps healthcare professionals understand the needs of patients and their families after a medical injury or death has occurred.
Among her many honours, Ilene was also named one of Modern Healthcare’s “100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare of 2009”
Charlene J Phipps
Charlene is the founder of Innovative Human Dynamics, an organizational development company established in 1992 to build thriving organizations that contribute to the well being of people and communities worldwide. The company specializes in leadership development, effective communication and relationships, collaboration, strategic planning and change management. Charlene is also senior staff with the Columbia Leadership Development Institute and is a certified social/emotional intelligence coach. She earned her M.S. degree with a concentration in organization development from the University of Oregon, Public Administration Program, U.S.A, where she also served as adjunct faculty for many years.
Charlene is an active organizational development consultant and trainer, serving public and private companies primarily in the Pacific Northwest, USA. She is a frequent conference presenter and trainer on topics related to learning organizations, the applications of neuroscience to organizational excellence and developing authentic compassionate relationships in the workplace. With her colleagues, she recently developed and field tested a Compassionate Care program based on interpersonal neuroscience and emphasizing the structure, culture, and interpersonal relationships necessary for truly compassionate organizations.
Professor Paul Gilbert
Paul is the head of the Research Unit as well as Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Derby. He has a degree in Economics (Wolverhampton, 1973), Masters in Experimental Psychology (Sussex, 1975), PhD in Clinical Psychology (Edinburgh, 1980) and a diploma in Clinical Psychology awarded by the British Psychological Society (1980).
Paul was made a fellow of the British Psychological Society for contributions to psychological knowledge in 1993 and was president of the British Association for Cognitive and Behavioral Psychotherapy in 2003. He has also served on the government depression NICE guideline committee. Paul has published and edited 18 books and over 100 academic papers and book chapters. He is currently a series editor on compassionate approaches to life difficulties. After years of exploring the processes underpinning shame and its role in a variety of psychopathologies, his current research is exploring the neurophysiology and therapeutic effectiveness of compassion focused therapy.
Professor Jenny Firth-Cozens
Jenny is a clinical and organisational psychologist acting as consultant to a number of healthcare organisations, including the London Deanery, where she is Special Advisor on Postgraduate Medical Education. She has published numerous papers, chapters and books on the health of doctors and on the organisational aspects of patient safety, and has worked for the Royal College of Psychiatrists on leadership development.
Dr Jocelyn Cornwell
Jocelyn is the Director, The Point of Care Programme, at The King’s Fund in London. This is the leading programme in the UK working to improve the experience of hospital patients with a focus on care and compassion.
Jocelyn is an independent healthcare consultant and visiting fellow in Health and Social care at the London School of Economics. Having originally trained as a medical sociologist, she has worked in the NHS and the Audit Commission and was a founding director of the Commission for Health Improvement. She is a trustee of the Mental Health Foundation and Connect UK and formerly sat on the board of Picker Institute Europe. Jocelyn’s interests lie in the organisational systems, processes and behaviours required to achieve high-quality, safe patient care.
Stephen Smith
Stephen is the Lead Nurse in the innovative Edinburgh Napier University / NHS Lothian Leadership in Compassionate Care Project. With a background in general nursing and mental health nursing Stephen has worked for the last 15 years in the area of palliative care, in both hospice and hospital settings. In relation to multi-disciplinary working, Stephen was the Chair of NHS Lothian’s Palliative Care Managed Clinical Network and worked with Quality Improvement Scotland in the development of national standards for palliative care. He completed a Masters Degree in Cancer Nursing at the University of Glasgow in 2000. Past roles have included leading and co-ordinating a three-year action research project investigating palliative care provided for people with a dementia and their carers.
In the last three years, Stephen has headed the Leadership in Compassionate Care Project in Edinburgh, a unique collaboration between the university and the local National Health Service. The programme has four interdependent strands:
- Embedding the principles of Compassionate Care with in the undergraduate curriculum.
- Supporting newly qualified nurses during their first year in practice to facilitate the transition from student to competent and compassionate staff nurse.
- Establishing NHS Lothian centres of excellence in Compassionate Care – called Beacon Wards.
- Supporting development of leadership skills in Compassionate Care in NHS Lothian.
Belinda Dewar
Belinda is a senior nurse leader with the Compassionate Care Project in Edinburgh. She has a background in nursing, education and research. In her role as Senior Research Fellow at Queen Margaret University she worked with practitioners and older people in the workplace to carry out action research projects that promote real changes in practice. She was Nurse Consultant at the Care Commission in Scotland and supported care home staff to develop leadership skills and implement evidence into practice through two national practice development initiatives.
From her work alongside Stephen in the Leadership in Compassionate Care Project, she brings insights into the well being of health staff, supporting cultural change in relation to compassion, strategies that make a difference in real time to staff patients and families, relational leadership, emotional management, and evidence based practice/knowledge transfer in relation to compassionate caring.
Dr Caroline Ellis-Hill
Caroline is an occupational therapist who has an interest in the journey of rehabilitation from the perspective of those undertaking it. She carries out research using embodied narrative approaches with the focus being human connection. She has developed a clinical model, the Life Thread Model, to help clinicians appreciate the 'invisible' stories and relationships that underpin life-changing events in health care. Her aim is to support the recognition of the fundamental importance of relationship, connection and shared humanity in health and social care. She has published numberous papers and spoken internationally in this area of study. She is currently working at Bournemouth University on the humanisation of health and social care research programme with Prof Les Todres and Prof Kate Galvin. The programme is exploring the development and application of a conceptual framework by which the humanisation (and dehumanisation) of health and social care practice can be understood.
Professor Kathleen Galvin
Kate Galvin is a nurse and Professor of health research. She is interested in how peoples' experiences and what they 'go through' offers insights for professionals, but also what it is to be human. She is currently working at the Centre for Qualitative Research at Bournemouth University, UK and with Les Todres is taking forward a research programme that includes a conceptual framework for humanising healthcare, a new theory of well-being, and methodological approaches that are up to the task of capturing the human dimensions of experience such as 'poetic inquiry'. She is particularly interested in how we can facilitate and educate practitioners to draw on caring resources that are based on the empathic imagination and the kind of knowing that comes from 'walking in another's shoes'.
Professor Les Todres
Les Todres is a clinical psychologist and Director of the Centre for Qualitative Research at Bournemouth University, UK. His previous occupational roles have included head of a student counseling service and director of a clinical psychology training programme. He has also worked within National Health Service Clinics and GP practices within the United Kingdom. He is interested in the whole area of human potential and how we can embody such possibilities in everyday life and in all our cultural contexts and institutions. With Kate Galvin, he is taking forward a research programme that includes a conceptual framework for humanising healthcare, a new theory of well-being, and methodological approaches that are up to the task of capturing the human dimensions of experience, such as 'embodied enquiry'. He is author of the book 'Embodied Enquiry: Phenomenological Touchstones for Research, Psychotherapy and Spirituality' (2007). Palgrave.
NEW ZEALAND
Professor Jenny Carryer
Jenny currently holds the position of Professor of Nursing in a clinical chair between Massey University and Mid Central Health, Palmerston North, New Zealand. Jenny holds a PhD from Massey University together with clinical postgraduate qualifications in oncology and cardiovascular nursing and in counselling. Jenny’s ongoing research interests continue into primary health services, development of the nurse practitioner role and patient safety. Jenny was a member of the Ministerial Task Force on Nursing and past president and now executive director of the College of Nurses Aotearoa (NZ) for the last fifteen years. She is currently deputy chair of the Ministry task force on implementation of the primary health strategy and was a member of the Nurse Practitioner employment and development working party. Jenny was awarded a Member of the NZ Order of Merit in the Queens Birthday Honours, 2000.
Dr Robin Youngson
Robin is a former engineer, a practising anesthesiologist, and for six years was Clinical Leader in the development of the new Waitakere Hospital in Auckland, New Zealand. Robin is the Founder and a Trustee of the Centre for Compassion in Healthcare.
Robin graduated with an honours degree in engineering at Cambridge University. He worked for three years in oil exploration, saving funds to pay his way through medical school in Bristol. He took honours in Medicine and then became a Fellow of both the Royal College of Anaesthetists of England and the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists. He started his first consultant job at Auckland Hospital as an anaesthetic specialist in 1994.
Robin was closely involved in patient process redesign and quality improvement. The turbulent healthcare reforms of the 1990’s led him to issues of leadership, particularly in response to the introduction of alien corporate and market ideology. He founded The Clinical Leaders Association of NZ (CLANZ) in 1998. He was Acting Chair of the national EpiQual committee in 2006 and played a significant role in shaping the New Zealand strategy for quality improvement in healthcare. He was appointed to the new national Quality Improvement Committee (QIC) in 2007 and was also the NZ representative on the International Steering Committee for Patient Safety Solutions within the WHO Global Alliance on Patient Safety. Robin was an international spokesman for the World Health Organisation in the 2007 launch of the new strategy for “People at the Centre of Health Care: Harmonising mind, body and systems”.
Professor Rod MacLeod
Is Medical Director of Hibiscus Coast Hospice, Whangaparaoa, Auckland – prior to that he was District Medical Director of Palliative Care (Waitemata DHB).
He is Honorary Clinical Professor in General Practice and Primary Health Care, University of Auckland and Adjunct Professor in the Departments of General Practice and Medical and Surgical Sciences at University of Otago, Dunedin School of Medicine. He was previously the inaugural South Link Health Professor in Palliative Care at the Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago (the first Chair in Palliative Care in New Zealand). He has a longstanding interest in education in palliative care completing his PhD work in 2002 with a submission entitled “Changing the way that doctors learn to care for people who are dying”. He has published widely in the area of palliative care in national and international peer reviewed journals.
His book Snapshots on the journey – an anthology of poems through death and remembrance was published by Steele Roberts, Wellington in 2002.
Dr Sharad Paul
Sharad P. Paul was born in England in 1966, but grew up in India. His parents were both medical missionaries in India. Sharad followed in his parents’ footsteps and embarked on a career in medicine – training in Family Medicine and Plastic Surgery. He confines his practice to skin cancer surgery and reconstruction. Sharad is also a Senior Lecturer in Surgery (hon) at the University of Auckland and in Skin Cancer at Australia’s Queensland University. He has also completed a Law degree – he holds a Masters in Law (Medical Law) from the University of Glasgow.
A new surgical technique he has developed has been feted internationally as the first new original skin grafting technique published in over a century. His article on 'halo grafting' was published in Dermatologic Surgery in Jan 2010.
Sharad also owns award-winning independent bookstore/cafés Baci Lounge, in New Zealand and Australia. Baci lounges put profits into literacy and mentoring programs for disadvantaged children and have featured in TIME magazine. Sharad visits a low-decile school a week and speaks to children and teaches creative writing -- to lift overall academic performance. Sharad is also on the NZ National Commission for UNESCO as literacy adviser.
Sharad is a published author. His first novel, Cool Cut, has been published by Picador in 2007. His second novel set in Tibet, To Kill a Snow Dragonfl, should be released by Harper Collins over the next year. He has also completed a non-fiction book on business/motivation and leadership for Harper Collins and it is expected that this book will be released in 2010.
Sharad is a founding Trustee of the Centre for Compassion in Healthcare.
Pat Armitstead
Pat’s ambition is that every hospital in the world should have a Department of Joyology. She has a unique role in bringing joy, humour and positive psychology to the workplace and has toured overseas with Patch Adams, in the company of an international troupe of clowns.
Pat is a Registered General Nurse with Post Grad Dip Ed from Armidale CAE, New South Wales, Australia. She worked for 16 years in Management and Education roles, leading change by managing the first aged care facility that took Gerontology students for work experience and developing the first formal in-house education program in aged care in NSW in the 1980’s. In 2001-2 she conducted 2 pilot programs in Auckland, New Zealand, in aged care settings using Professor Howard Gardener’s Multiple Intelligences to assess and develop the capabilities of residents.
Pat has presented over 600 programs in the last 8 years that that focus on the applied use of positive psychology to support people to move through grief and loss. These include keynotes at conferences, her “Stress, Humour and Health” program at Auckland University, her “Humour, Engagement and Wellbeing” courses and her “Good Grief” programme. Her clients in NZ include many professional groups involved in healthcare.
She has a weekly radio program called Radio Improv – Joy in the Moment on Auckland radio Planet FM 104.6 and is regularly featured in the media. She was NSANZ Speaker of the Year in 2002. Her first book, is called “Humour Works” and she has just completed her second book “There ought to be clowns” which tells of her experience touring with Patch Adams and the role of the compassionate clown.
Pat is a founding Trustee of the Centre for Compassion in Healthcare.
Dr Susan J. Hawken
Susan is practicing general practitioner and a Senior Lecturer at the University of Auckland. She is also a partner in Connect Communications which provides communication skills education for a range of health professionals.
Susan graduated from the University of Auckland Medical School in 1990 and then became a Fellow of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners in 1998.
Susan currently coordinates the Professional, Clinical and Communication Skills courses across all years of the University of Auckland medical programme. She is passionate about improving the quality of clinicians’ communication skills. She was involved in the development and implementation of the Overseas Doctors Training Programme from 2001-4. Her research interests include the teaching and learning of communication skills cross-culturally, the clinical learning environment, professionalism and assessment.