Susan Blacker received her Bachelor of Social Work degree from King’s College at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario and completed her Master of Social Work degree at the University of Toronto.  She began her clinical career in Oncology and Palliative Care Social Work at Oshawa General Hospital.  Simultaneously, she taught at Durham College in Oshawa, Ontario in the Palliative Care Certificate and Oncology Nursing Certificate Programs.  In 1998, she joined the Department of Oncology Social Work at the Johns Hopkins Oncology Center in Baltimore, Maryland.  Currently, Susan is the Coordinator of the Oncology Center’s patient and family resource program called The Living with Cancer Resource Program.  She is also the Director of the Johns Hopkins Oncology Center’s Continuing Education Program in Psychosocial Cancer Care, a nationally-recognized training program for health care professionals.

In January 2000, Susan received a grant from the Project on Death in America’s Social Work Leadership Award for her project “Social Work and End-of-Life Care: An Education Initiative”.  She is also a faculty member within the Advanced Practice Certificate Program in End-of-Life Care at the Smith College School of Social Work.  Susan has spoken internationally and has published several articles and book chapters in the area of caring for oncology patients and their families and end-of-life care.

.