Congratulations to Susan Blacker, who has been chosen to receive SWHPN’s 2010 Social Work Leadership Award. Currently the Director of Cancer Services, Planning and Performance at St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Susan juggles multiple leadership and administrative, teaching, and research roles - from championing interprofessional practice, education  and research in oncology and palliative care at St. Michael’s Hospital, to teaching as a lecturer at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto. She is a much sought after speaker in social work and interdisciplinary forums throughout Canada and the United States addressing both psychosocial oncology and palliative care  and presenting innovative approaches and strategies for integrating these areas in health care.

Prior to her work at St. Michael’s Hospital, Susan was a member of the Department of Oncology Social Work at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins. In addition to her clinical and supervisory role, she was the Director of the Continuing Education Program in Psychosocial Cancer Care. Susan previously received a Social Work Leadership Development Award from the Open Society Institute’s Project on Death in America to support her two-year project, Social Work & End-of-Life Care: An Education Initiative.  This project reached more than 250 social workers across the United States and set the stage for the creation of a network for social workers in this  area.

Susan has published extensively in social work and interdisciplinary journals and books on all areas of end-of-life and palliative care. She was the volunteer lead for the committee that developed the NASW Standards for Social Work Practice in Palliative and End-of-Life Care and was the co-editor of the 2005 Social Work Series in the Journal of Palliative Medicine.

Susan has been a driving force behind the formation of SWHPN. She was co-chair of the 1st and 2nd Social Work Summits on End-of-Life and Palliative Care in 2002 and 2005, and served as a founding member of the SWHPN Board of Directors from 2007 to 2009. Susan has moderated the SWHPN online community and discussion forum, which has become a major benefit to its members.

SWHPN has previously presented this unique Project on Death in America (PDIA) Social Work Leadership Award, made possible by the Open Society Institute, to 3 outstanding social work leaders: Debra Parker Oliver in 2007, Shirley Otis-Green in 2008, and Barbara L. Jones in 2009.

Congratulations to Barbara L. Jones, winner of the 2009 PDIA Social Work Leadership Award! Barbara is an Assistant Professor of Social Work and Women and Gender Studies at University of Texas-Austin. She is a nationally and internationally recognized leader in pediatric cancer and pediatric palliative care not only among social work, but in interdisciplinary networks and forums as well. Barbara is a gifted practitioner, a passionate advocate for children and families, a compelling and much loved teacher, and an excellent researcher. (Full press release)

Shirley Otis-Green, MSW, LCSW, ACSW, OSW-C

Senior Research Specialist, Nursing Research and Education
City of Hope National Medical Center

Shirley Otis-Green is a licensed clinical social worker and Senior Research Specialist in the department of Nursing Research and Education at the City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, California. Her clinical work, research, presentations and publications focus on transdisciplinary palliative care and integrated symptom management with a special emphasis upon underserved populations.

Shirley is the Principal Investigator of the ACE Project – Advocating for Clinical Excellence: Transdisciplinary Palliative Care Education, a major 5-year National Cancer Institute R-25 Grant Award for development and implementation of a palliative care educational experience for 300 competitively-selected psycho-oncology professionals to enhance their advocacy, leadership and support skills. She also developed and coordinated the Promoting Excellence in Pain Management & Palliative Care for Social Workers annual training course.

As Clinical Program Manager in the department of Supportive Care, Pain and Palliative Medicine, she created the Transitions Program, which offered psycho-educational support services for those facing end of life, and the Art for the Heart: Hands on Harps Program. Shirley received a Social Work Leadership Award from the Project on Death in America for her work to enhance end-of-life and bereavement support services for Latino oncology patients. She received her Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and her Master of Social Work Degree from the University of Hawaii.

Debra Parker Oliver, MSW, PhD

Director of Doctoral Studies and Associate Professor
University of Missouri School of Social Work

Debra Parker Oliver is Director of Doctoral Studies and Associate Professor at University of Missouri-Columbia School of Social Work. She has been involved in hospice care for over two decades first as a practitioner and now as a researcher. Her research interests include hospice practice and management, home care, and gerontology and she has nearly 40 articles in peer-reviewed journals.Debra was awarded a National Cancer Institute R-21 Grant Award as Principal Investigator in Patient and Family Participation in Hospice Interdisciplinary Teams, an innovative care strategy aimed at using videophone technology to bring cancer patients and their families into hospice care planning meetings. This is the first NCI grant ever awarded to the University of Missouri School of Social Work.

As director of a small hospice in Minnesota, she provided the leadership necessary for it to become the first free-standing Medicare certified program in Minnesota. She then went on to start Hands of Hope Hospice in Missouri and held other leadership positions in hospice for over ten years. More recently she was a winner of the 2003 Catherine Pouget Award for her contributions towards research on improving quality of life for the terminally ill. In 2004 Debra was selected as a Hartford Foundation Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholar.

She received Social Work/Sociology dual degrees from Missouri Western State College and both her Master of Social Work Degree and Ph.D. from the University of Missouri.

The Project on Death in America (PDIA) Social Work Leadership Award is given annually to social workers who demonstrate outstanding leadership and have advanced the field in end-of-life, hospice and palliative care. The goal of this new award is to acknowledge and increase the visibility of social workers’ contributions to the field, and encourage future generations to continue providing quality care to the seriously ill, dying and bereaved.

The recipient will attend the annual conference of a selected social work or palliative care professional organization where they will receive this award and have an opportunity to present a summary of their work.  The recipient will also be encouraged to publish their work in a professional journal.