Keynote Speakers

Pre-conference Workshop (June 3, 8:30 a.m.-2:15 p.m.)
Doug Smith, B.A., M.Div., M.A., M.S., author, trainer, speaker and consultant, Madison, Wis.
Doug Smith is a professional speaker, trainer, and consultant with over 25 years experience as a counselor, therapist and health care administrator. He has worked in hospitals, hospices and social service agencies. He is the author of several books, including 'Caregiving: Hospice-Proven Techniques for Healing Body and Soul,' 'The Complete Book of Counseling the Dying and the Grieving' and 'The Tao of Grieving.' Mr. Smith's three masters' degrees in three different health care disciplines give him a truly holistic approach in caring for the dying and the grieving.

Keynote Session (June 4, 9-10:30 a.m.)
Therese Rando, Ph.D., BCETS, BCBT, Clinical Director, The Institute for the Study and Treatment of Loss, Warwick, R.I.
Therese A. Rando is the Clinical Director of The Institute for the Study and Treatment of Loss in Rhode Island. Current professional foci include treatment of complicated mourning, self-help after sudden and traumatic death, loss of a child, the interface between posttraumatic stress and grief, anticipatory mourning and specialized intervention techniques in the treatment of traumatic bereavement. Ms. Rando has over 80 published works pertaining to the clinical aspects of thanatology. Her newest is Coping With the Sudden Death of Your Loved One: Self-Help for Traumatic Bereavement.

Keynote Session (June 4, 1:30-3 p.m.)
Colin Murray Parkes, OBE, MD, FRCPsych, Chorleywood, Herts, U.K.

Emeritus Consultant Psychiatrist to St Christopher's Hospice, Sydenham. Formerly Senior Lecturer in Psychiatry, The Royal London Hospital Medical College, The Tavistock Institute of Human Relations and Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist, St Joseph’s Hospice, Hackney. Author of: Love and Loss: the roots of Grief and its Complications. Routledge, London & NY (2006). Bereavement: Studies of Grief in Adult Life; publ. Pelican, London and Routledge, London & New York (4th Ed with Holly Prigerson, 2010). With Robert Weiss, Recovery from Bereavement, publ. Basic Books, New York & London (1983). With M. Relf and A. Couldrick, Counselling in Terminal Care and Bereavement (1996) publ. British Psychological Society.  Also of numerous publications on psychological aspects of bereavement, amputation of a limb, terminal cancer care, disasters and other life crises. Recently work has focused on traumatic bereavements (with special reference to violent deaths, the cycle of violence & armed conflict) and on the roots in the attachments of childhood of the psychiatric problems that can follow the loss of attachments in adult life. He was awarded an OBE by Her Majesty The Queen for his services to bereaved people in June 1996. MORE

Keynote Session (June 5, 9-10:30 a.m.)
Stephen R. Connor, Ph.D., Senior Executive, Worldwide Palliative Care Alliance, London, U.K.
Stephen R. Connor, Ph.D. is Senior Executive of the Worldwide Palliative Care Alliance (WPCA), an alliance of national and regional hospice and palliative care organizations globally.  Dr Connor has worked continuously in the hospice/palliative care movement since 1976, as the CEO of four different US hospice programs, and Vice President for Research and Development at the US National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) for 10 years. Dr Connor is a researcher and psychotherapist, licensed as a clinical psychologist in two US states. He is now focused on palliative care development internationally as consultant to the Open Society Foundation’s International Palliative Care Initiative in New York. He has published over 60 peer reviewed journal articles, reviews, and book chapters on issues related to palliative care and is the author of Hospice: Practice, Pitfalls, and Promise (1998), and Hospice and Palliative Care: The Essential Guide (2009).

Keynote Session (June 5, 1:30-3 p.m.)
Kathie Kobler, MS, APN, PCNS-BC, CHPPN, Pediatric Palliative Care, Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, Advocate Lutheran General Children’s Hospital, Park Ridge, Ill.
Kathie Kobler is an advanced practice nurse with 27 years experience caring for infants and children with life-limiting conditions and their families. She coordinates the pediatric palliative care program at Advocate Lutheran General Children’s Hospital in Park Ridge, Illinois. Kathie is a professional speaker at national venues, with a heart for empowering clinicians. She is a published author and contributor to position statements and guidelines on perinatal/pediatric palliative and bereavement. Kathie is a certified hospice and palliative care pediatric nurse (CHPPN), and executive board member for the National Board for Certification of Hospice and Palliative Care Nurses (NBCHPN).

Keynote Session (June 6, 10:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m.)
Danai Papadatou, Ph.D., M.Ed., Professor of Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Nursing, University of Athens, Greece
Papadatou is a Professor of Clinical Psychology at the Faculty of Nursing of the University of Athens. Her clinical experience, research interests and publications focus mostly on issues related to pediatric palliative care, bereavement support and community disasters. Her most recently published book is entitled “In the face of death: Professionals who care for the dying and the bereaved” (Springer, 2009). She is also the president of “Merimna”, a Greek non governmental organization for the care of children and families who encounter illness and death, which runs two services: a Counseling Center for Bereaved Children and a Pediatric Palliative Home Care Service. Both services are the only available in Greece for dying and bereaved children and adolescents. Papadatou has received an award from Children’s Hospice International (1989) for her contribution in pediatric palliative care and from the Association for Death Education and Counseling (2001) for her contribution in palliative care and death education. She is a member of several national, European, and international professional organizations and have served in the past as chair and board member of the International Work Group on Death, Dying and Bereavement.

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