Mary Sormanti is an assistant professor at the Columbia University School of Social Work (CUSSW) where she teaches both clinical practice and practice evaluation courses. She did her undergraduate work at Brandeis University, received her MSW from New York University, and her doctorate from Boston College.  Prior to joining the faculty of Columbia University in 1997, she was employed for nine years as a senior pediatric oncology social worker at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Children’s Hospital in Boston, MA where she specialized in bone marrow transplantation and bereavement. In addition to her Project on Death in America social work leadership development award,  Dr. Sormanti is the Principal Investigator on two federally-funded grants.  The first is a two-year study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, to examine HIV/AIDS risk behaviors among older abused women.  The second is a one-year study funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse to develop and pilot an HIV/AIDS prevention intervention with women on methadone treatment and their primary male partners.  Another grant proposal entitled "HIV Prevention with Older Minority Women and Their Male Sex Partners" is currently under review by the National Institute of Mental Health.  Her research has been published in numerous interdisciplinary peer-reviewed journals including The Journal of Psychosocial Oncology, the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, and AIDS Education & Prevention.  She will be co-editing, with Susan Taylor-Brown, a special volume of Health & Social Work dedicated to end of life issues.  This edition is scheduled for publication in 2002. Dr. Sormanti is also an active member of the New York chapter of the Society for Social Work Leadership in Health Care and has a small private practice specializing in grief, loss, and bereavement.