PROJECT ON DEATH IN AMERICA

Social Work Leadership Development Award

* Cohort I
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Cohort II
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Cohort III
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Cohort IV
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Cohort V
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Cohort VI

   
   
     
     
 

Application Cover Page
and Pre-Grant Information Form

The application cover page must be the first page of your proposal. To download this Application Cover Page, click here:
www.soros.org/death/SOCIALAPP.pdf

You must also include a completed "Pre-Grant Information Required" Form. To download this form, click here:
www.soros.org/death/pre-grant.pdf

To download these forms, you will need the Adobe Acrobat read. If you do not have this free software, click here.

 

 
* Application Process  
* Program Goals  
* Eligibility  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 
 

The Social Work Leadership Development Awards encourage innovative research and training projects that reflect collaboration between schools of social work and practice sites to advance ongoing development of social work practice, education, and training in the care of the dying.  These awards promote the visibility and prestige of social workers committed to end-of-life care and enhance their effectiveness as academic leaders, role models, and mentors for future generations of social workers.

 
 

Cohort I
 

Social Work Leaders 2000-2001
(top, l to r) Jim Keresztury, Iris Cohen, Gary L. Stein
(bottom, l to r) Mary Sormanti, Joan Beroff, Barbara Dane, Susan Blacker
 

Joan Berzoff, Ed.D., M.S.W.
Smith College School of Social Work
Northampton, MA
This project will develop a certificate program in end-of-life care for post-master’s level social workers working with terminally ill patients and their families in hospitals, nursing homes, and hospices.  The program will include development of an innovative continuing education curriculum and textbook, which will serve as an educational resource for social workers throughout the United States.
jberzoff@email.smith.edu

 

Susan Blacker, M.S.W. L.C.S.W-C.
John Hopkins Oncology Center
Baltimore, MD
This program will develop and offer an innovative training course to meet the continuing education needs of social workers practicing in the arena of end of life care and will create a post-master’s training opportunity to encourage specialization.  It will also establish a statewide network of social workers who will be trained to serve as role models in educating peers about the psychosocial needs of individuals and families facing life-threatening illness.
blackers@smh.toronto.on.ca
 

Iris Cohen, M.S.W., A.C.S.W., L.I.C.S.W.
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Caregroup
Boston, MA
The Multidisciplinary Care Tools Program trains social workers and medical staff together in multidisciplinary teamwork and family conferencing skills. The program, which has training components for graduate students and early post graduates as well as advanced professionals, is designed to educate social workers to be role models and leaders within interdisciplinary teams and across treatment sites.
iriscf@ucla.edu

Barbara Dane, Ph.D.
New York University-Ehrenkranz School of Social Work
New York, NY
This project aims to improve postgraduate training for area social workers by convening 11 agency-based social work experts to work with faculty members at the NYU-Ehrenkranz School of Social Work on the design of a new palliative care curriculum. The curriculum will pay particular attention to pain management and ways of addressing spirituality and cross-cultural issues in various service settings. BTD1@nyu.edu

James A. Keresztury, L.C.S.W., M.S.W., M.B.A.
Center for Health Ethics and Law
Morgantown, WV
This project will establish a statewide advisory network, comprised of social work educators and practitioners, to develop an extensive survey tool that will examine the educational needs of social workers about end of life issues.  A new curriculum will be developed to address these gaps in knowledge and will be implemented in graduate and postgraduate social work education throughout the state.

 Mary Sormanti, M.S.W., Ph.D.
Columbia University School of Social Work
New York, NY
This project involves the development, implementation, and evaluation of telephone support groups for cancer patients and their families during the dying process. Evaluation of these groups will provide important information about their efficacy as innovative and cost-effective interventions and will serve as models for measurement of new technologies in social work programs. ms778@columbia.edu

Gary L. Stein, M.S.W., J.D.
New Jersey Health Decisions
Princeton, NJ
The Excellence in End of Life Care Fellowship for Social Workers will develop, pilot, evaluate, and disseminate a model palliative care curriculum for training social workers in working with the elderly and people with disabilities.  This collaborative effort will create New Jersey’s first comprehensive initiative to educate social work practitioners in end of life care. healthdec@aol.com

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Cohort II

Social Work Leaders 2000-2002
(top, l to r) John F. Linder, Margo Okazawa-Rey, Terry Altilio, Susan Taylor Brown; (bottom, l to r) Katherine Walsh-Burke, Norma del Rio, Elizabeth Mayfield-Arnold, June Simmons
 

Terry Altilio,  ACSW
Department of Pain Medicine and Palliative Care
Beth Israel Health Care System
New York, NY
This project is a collaboration between social work and the multidisciplinary staff of a major Palliative Care Center to create a six month social work fellowship program. A list serve will be developed and maintained as well as specific teaching modules on topics such as pain and symptom management and principles of palliative and end-of-life care for social work that can be accessed through the internet.
taltilio@bethisraelny.org

Elizabeth Mayfield Arnold, MSW, PhD
School of Social Work
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC 
Duke Institute on Care at the End of Life
Durham, NC
This research is a collaborative project between the school of Social Work at UNC-CH and Hospice for the Carolinas. Dr. Arnold will conduct a survey of hospice and health care social workers to examine social workers' attitudes, knowledge, and values concerning assisted dying.  Findings will be used to develop training to improve social work intervention with those at the end of life who have unmet needs and/or are considering hastening their death. emarnold@email.unc.edu

 John F. Linder, LCSW 
UC Davis Cancer Center
Sacramento, CA  

Through development of a state wide coalition of  Schools of  Social Work and Schools of Theology and related field training agencies, this project will develop a highly interactive graduate level “end-of-life care” course that will be offered to social work, divinity and religious studies students at California State University, Sacramento, and at the Graduate Theological Union (GTU)/UC Berkeley, in academic year 2001/02. john.linder@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu  

Margo Okazawa-Rey, EdD and Norma del Rio, MSW
Institute for Multicultural Research and Social Work Practice
San Francisco State University
San Francisco, CA
This project combines a grass roots program in northern California for minority and disadvantaged terminally ill individuals with the San Francisco State Multicultural Institute. Project goals are to 1) develop cross-cultural/cross ethnic assessment guidelines for the terminally ill and bereaved; 2) design and implement a curriculum for graduate social work students that integrates end-of-life care and multiculturalism and 3) test the application of available measures of professional cultural competency developed for other areas to end-of-life care.
mor@sfsu.edu     nidelrio@aol.com

W.  June Simmons, MSW
Partners in Care Foundation
Burbank, CA
A regional coalition of agencies and schools, developed by the Geriatric Social Work Education Consortium and the Partners in Care Foundation is creating a new model of integrated end-of-life care with older adults in social work field and academic training in California. This project will influence social work EOL care national graduate education programming through shaping optimal practice standards and developing a base for education of future social work leadership in EOL care.
jsimmons@picf.org

Susan Taylor-Brown, MPH, ACSW, PhD
Greater Rochester Collaborative
MSW Program
Nazareth College- SUNY College at Brockport
Pittsford, NY 

The Greater Rochester Collaborative MSW Program, Community Health Network (a medical facility for HIV infected adults) and the Double “H” Ranch (a camp funded by the Paul Newman Foundation for individuals with chronic illness) will form a consortium known as Family Unity. A rich series of learning opportunities delivered at the outpatient treatment facility, Community Health Network, and the Family Unity Camp will improve social work students', practitioners' and educators' ability to work with families experiencing death and loss related to HIV/AIDS.  Learning will be enhanced through participation in an intensive camp experience with these families. stbrown@social.syr.edu

Katherine Walsh-Burke, MSW, PhD
Association of Oncology Social Work
Springfield College School of Social Work
Springfield, MA
Dr. Katherine Walsh-Burke will develop an internet-based continuing education program for social workers affiliated with the 1000 member Association of Oncology Social Work, Hospice Social Workers and related social work organizations.  The program will offer courses that include essential theories and skills for social workers, program administrators and supervisors engaged in providing end-of-life care.
Kathywb4@aol.com

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Cohort III

 
Social Work Leaders
 
 
David A. Cherin, MSW, PhD
University of Washington
School of Social Work, Seattle, WA
The University of Washington's School of
Social Work End-of-Life Care Knowledge Institute
In this intensive summer research workshop program for social workers and other health professionals, participants will design research and demonstration projects to be carried out in their home institutions. Students will develop a strong conceptual and applied background in palliative care services, empowering them to assume a strong institutional role in the delivery of end-of-life care practice models. cherind@u.washington.edu

Ellen L Csikai, MSW, MPH PhD
Mary Raymer, MSW, ACSW
Stephen F. Austin State University
Nacogdoches, TX
National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization
Williamsburg, MI
The Social Work End-of-Life Care Educational
Program (SWEEP): A National Initiative

This project will use a national survey of health care workers in various settings to assess current educational preparation in end-of-life care, and create a “train the trainers” program to improve social work education.  ecsikai@sfasu.edu    raymermsw@aol.com

Judith Dobrof, DSW
The Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY
Caregivers and Professionals Partnership:
Assessing a Structured Support Program

Given that 71% of caregivers nationally report that they are caring for someone with a long-term  or chronic illness, providing support to family members throughout the course of illness – from diagnosis to the bereavement phase – is essential.   This project will assess the impact of the Caregivers and Professionals Partnership (CAPP), a structured support program for family caregivers of chronically, seriously and terminally-ill adults. judy.dobrof@mountsinai.org

Betty J. Kramer, PhD
University of Wisconsin-Madison
School of Social Work
Strengthening Social Work Education to
Improve End-of-Life Care

Although social workers have important practice roles supporting families and individuals coping with terminal illness, grief, loss and bereavement in a variety of settings, educational gaps often leave them ill-prepared to competently fulfill these roles. This project will develop end-of-life content guidelines for the social work profession, building upon the current standards used by medicine and nursing; and use these guidelines to conduct a critical review of the most frequently used textbooks in social work education. ejkramer@facstaff.wisc.edu

Shirley Otis-Green, MSW, LCSW, ACSW
City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA
Proyecto de Transiciones: Enhancing End of Life and Bereavement Support Services for Latinos within a Cancer Center Setting

Despite the high percentage of Latinos who reside in Los Angeles County, there are presently no integrated, Spanish-speaking end of life and bereavement support services. This demonstration project will develop a community partnership model appropriate for use in cancer centers nationwide.
sotis-green@coh.org

Amanda Sutton CSW, BCD
Yvette Colon, MSW, ACSW

Cancer Care, Inc., New York, NY
The End-of-Life Internet Forum

This teaching model will use the Internet to provide focused training in end-of-life care to master’s level graduate students and  social work professionals.
asutton@cancercare.org      yvette@painfoundation.org

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Cohort IV

 
Social Work Leaders
 
 

Mercedes Bern-Klug, MSW, MA
Associate Director,Center on Aging
University of Kansas Medical Center

Through a survey of 60 nursing home residents and their families, this project will document the psychosocial concerns of dying residents and their families. Further, a series of focus groups with social workers providing services to those residents and observations of their role will clarify the social work role as it is currently practiced, its strengths, limitations, and needed development in order to improve end-of-life care in U.S. nursing homes. This information will contribute to the current initiative to develop social work standards and best practices in that setting. mbernklu@kumc.edu

Sheila R. Enders, MSW
Community Health Program Manager
Department of Internal Medicine
UC Davis Medical Center
 
Through the development of a collaborative relationship with the California Department of Corrections, Johns Hopkins Oncology Center, UC Davis Health System, and Pennsylvania State University, this project will develop a handbook for advanced care planning and effective decision-making in selected populations with low literacy levels, mild learning disabilities, or mild cognitive deficits. Information from the handbook will be used to develop didactic and interactive training to teach skills in facilitating end-of-life discussions and decision-making among those vulnerable populations for graduate courses for social workers and other health professionals. srenders@ucdavis.edu

Richard B. Francoeur, PhD
Assistant Professor
School of Social Work
Columbia University

Assistant Professor, Columbia University School of Social Work, New York, NY Disease progression and inadequate relief of pain and other symptoms are especially acute in economically disadvantaged minority communities. As a consequence, the health care system is perceived to lack credibility, and palliative care is viewed with suspicion as providing inferior care. After accounting for diagnosis and psychosocial factors, this research will study the impact of financial and material burden on the psychological well being, difficulties with pain medication, and confidence in achieving pain and symptom relief in a population of African-American and Latino patients who are receiving palliative care in Harlem, NY. rf201@columbia.edu

Barbara L. Jones, MSW, CSW
Pediatric Social Worker
Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology
Albany Medical Center, MC24

Barbara Jones will identify current practices and training of social workers who provide end-of-life care for children diagnosed with cancer in order to meet the psychosocial needs of dying children and their families. Using qualitative and quantitative methods, Jones will survey 260 pediatric oncology social works and conduct focus groups for an in-depth understanding of the role of social work in pediatric palliative care and findings will be used to enhance the effectiveness and confidence of social workers engaged in end-of-life care for children with cancer. Jones, who has recently been appointed to the Steering Committee of the National Alliance for Children with Life Threatening Conditions, plans to present the results of quantitative and qualitative analysis of the surveys received at three end-of-life and Palliative Care conferences this spring. jonesb@mail.amc.edu

Jane Lindberg, LCSW
Director of Psychosocial Services
Hinds Hospice 

This project reflects collaboration between a rural hospice and an MSW program at California State University in Fresno, CA. The project will survey the adequacy and accessibility of bereavement services for a rural poor and Hispanic farm labor community in four representative communities in Fresno County, located in the San Joaquin Valley of central California: Kerman, Mendota, Reedley, and Selma. Based on survey results, a model bereavement program will be developed that trains local social workers, clergy and health care providers who may already be connected to bereaved residents, in order to teach the skills for individual and group bereavement services with this population. This model program will be evaluated and disseminated through infusion into the Masters of Social Work Program Curriculum and through continuing education models for rural health and human services professionals. jane@hindshospice.com

Susan A. Murty, PhD

Associate Professor

University of Iowa School of Social Work
This project will evaluate a model of integrated field and classroom social work curriculum on "Developing Social Work Leadership in End-of-Life Services in Rural Communities" within the Iowa State University School of Social Work. Over the two-year period, 12 MSW students will be trained as leaders in this specialty. Models of culturally competent end-of-life care, palliative care, and bereavement services will be evaluated with an emphasis on rural communities and rural Latino populations. Those models of care will continue to be taught within the MSW program and disseminated nationally. susan-murty@uiowa.edu

Bruce A. Paradis, PhD
Professor
Graduate School of Social Work

Salem State College
This project will be the first to develop and evaluate a formal concentration on older adults and end-of-life care across the life cycle within a school of social work in the United States. Participants are second-year MSW students at the Salem State College School of Social Work, who simultaneously complete a 1,000-hour field placement in a setting that provides end-of-life care services and a year-long integrative seminar designed to consolidate advanced clinical and organizational skills and to explore innovative models for the delivery of psychosocial service to the dying. The completion of a research project on end-of-life care and dissemination through a public forum are also required.
bruce.paradis@salem.mass.edu

Sherri Weisenfluh, LCSW
Associate Vice President for Counseling
Hospice of the Bluegrass

This project will create The Kentucky Project, a statewide partnership of end-of-life and palliative care educators and service providers in rural Appalachian communities. Through this partnership a social work manual for students and practitioners will be developed and disseminated to enhance provider competencies. srenders@ucdavis.edu

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Cohort V

 

Social Work Leaders
 

 

Elizabeth Chaitin, MSSW, MA, DHCE
Director, Medical Ethics and Palliative Care Services UPMC Shadyside Hospital
This project will test the efficacy of an interdisciplinary education and training program for developing palliative care staff at non-university affiliated UPMC Health System hospitals as well as community hospitals affiliated with the Consortium Ethics Program of the University of Pittsburgh. The goal is to form highly functioning interdisciplinary care teams in each hospital composed of social workers, nurses, and physicians, specialists with significant exposure to end of life care. chaitinek@msx.upmc.edu


Bonnie Shultz, LICSW

SocialWorker, PalliativeCare Consulting Service
Children's Hospital Foundation

Families of pediatric patients and professionals often refuse potentially helpful end-of-life services because ofthe emotional message of "giving up" that hospice implies to them. Bonnie Shultz created a model of communication and case coordination beginning early in the course of a child's potentially fatal illness, which has been well accepted by families and has shown to improve their decision making and planning at the end of life. In her project, that model, previously tested and supported by Robert Wood Johnson, will form the basis of a pediatric palliative care curriculum to be taught at the University of Washington School of Social Work, at local hospice agencies, and will be disseminated through a series of state and national conferences. bshult@chmc.org


Vicki M. Runnion, MSSW 

Terry Wolfer, PhD

Professors
University of South Carolina College of Social Work

Terry Wolfer and Vicki Runnion will use a standardized process to develop a set of decision cases on death, dying, and bereavement for teaching social work practice in palliative care. The 24 cases will be published in book form to be disseminated through the Council on Social Work Education as well as individually via the Internet. The cases will portray the actual experiences of social workers as they serve clients facing death or bereavement in a wide range of practice settings and allow students to analyze solutions to dilemmas that arise. VMRunnio@gwm.sc.edu and terry.wolfer@sc.edu

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Cohort VI

 

Social Work Leaders
 

David Browning, MSW

Senior Research Associate,
Initiative for Pediatric Palliative Care,
Center for Applied Ethics and Professional Practice
Newton, MA
David Browning will develop a curriculum on child and family centered end-of-life care for master's level social workers. The curriculum will provide social workers with the theoretical foundation, clinical expertise, and resources to provide optimal pediatric palliative care. The program includes facilitator's guides for educating social workers in the following six areas: engaging with children and families; relieving pain and other symptoms; improving communication and strengthening relationships; responding to suffering and bereavement; sharing decision-making; and establishing continuity of care. dbrowning@edc.org


Karen Bullock, PhD

Assistant Professor
University of Connecticut School of Social Work
West Hartford, CT
In collaboration with the University of Connecticut's Center for Instructional Media and Technology, the End-of-Life and Palliative Care Educational Resource Center, and other related resource programs, Karen Bullock will create an online Resource Enrichment Center Project, enabling the School of Social Work to provide continuing education for practitioners and graduate students. This clearing house will include a resource enrichment centre for social work in end-of-life care, a research symposium, an interactive web site, distance and distributive education, online course enhancement, online discussions with practitioners and students, and an online library. karen.bullock@uconn.edu
 

Nancy Cincotta, MSW Presceptor

Department of Social Work Services
Mt. Sinai Medical Center, New York, NY
In collaboration with the Association of Pediatric Oncology Social Workers and the Center to Advance Palliative Care, and the SWLDA Program, Nancy Cincotta will organize a national network of social work experts in pediatric end-of-life care. Professionals and parents will partner to identify developmentally sensitive interventions, unique challenges, and opportunities to improve pediatric end-of-life care. Cincotta will create a listserv to serve as a virtual community for discussion, problem solving, resource sharing, and consultation for pediatric end-of-life care professionals.
nancy.cincotta@mountsinai.org
 

Elizabeth Clark, PhD, ACSW

Executive Director, National Association of Social Workers, Washington, DC
Social workers deal with end-of-life care situations in the broadest range of agencies and institutions of any mental health professional. This project will develop practice and policy guidelines in end-of-life and palliative care for the 150,000 members of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW). Ultimately leading to specialty certification, these guidelines will be developed in collaboration with Susan Blacker and the Social Work Consortium in End-of-Life Care that was formed in March of 2002 at the Social Work Summit on End-of-Life and Palliative Care at Duke University and will be disseminated through the 56 chapters of NASW nation wide and abroad to improve social work competencies in end-of-life and palliative care. bclark@naswdc.org

 

Nancy Contro, LCSW

Coordinator of Education and Research
Department of Palliative Care
Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, Palo Alto, CA
Most practitioners acknowledge that the most effective way to care for children is a family centered approach; however, within the realm of pediatric palliative care, there is almost no literature to guide practitioners. Even more lacking is literature examining the experiences and needs of children and families from non-Anglo cultures. This research will improve the understanding of the unique experience of bereaved Mexican-American families whose children were treated at Packard Children's Hospital. In collaboration with Dr. Betty Davies, Professor of Nursing at UCSF, they will explore specific responses to the trauma of child death, family communication patterns, and their experiences of their own care giving and those of professional and other caregivers.
nancy.contro@medcenter.stanford.edu
 

Rita Ledesma, PhD, LCSW

Associate Professor, Department of Social Work,
California State University, Los Angeles, CA
Rita Ledesma, a social work leader of mixed Latina and American Indian background, will examine the impact of loss and bereavement in the American Indian and Alaska Native communities of the greater Los Angeles region. She will use qualitative methods with two expert samples: 1) American Indians and Alaska Natives who reside in the community; 2) health and human services providers who work within the American Indian and Alaska Native community. She will establish a council of consultants to review the research protocol and data. Her findings will be used to develop training materials and curricula to be disseminated for practicing social workers, social work students at California State University and allied health professionals nation-wide. rledesma@cslanet.calstatela.edu


Aloen Townsend, PhD

Associate Professor,
Mandel School of Applied Social Services,
Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH
A critical gap in research and practice in end-of life care is the lack of a clinically relevant and scientifically sound tool for assessing family caregiver strain in end-of-life care. Through collaboration with the Hospice of the Western Reserve and the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, Aloen Townsend aims to develop and test such a tool in order to improve end-of-life care for patients. Also a faculty mentor for the Harford Faculty Scholars Program, this social work leader brings expertise in gerontology and research methodology as she continues to develop expertise in end-of-life care. Working together with social work leader Betty Kramer, Townsend will organize a national education and research initiative on care giving. ast7@po.cwru.edu

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