Laura Dingfield, MD, MSEd, FAAHPM, Chair
American Board of Internal Medicine
Dr. Dingfield is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Director of Palliative Care Education for the University of Pennsylvania Health System, and Program Director of the Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. She is board certified in Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, and Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Her academic focus is on medical education, including curricular innovation and assessment in competency-based education programs.
Dr. Dingfield serves on the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM) Fellowship Training Committee, the AAHPM Assessment Task Force, and has previously served on Test Materials Development Committees for the National Board of Medical Examiners.
Dr. Dingfield graduated from the University of Michigan Medical School. She completed internal medicine-pediatrics residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania-Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and hospice and palliative medicine fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania Health System. She holds a master’s degree in education from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education.
As of July 2022, Dr. Dingfield reported the following external relationships:
Dr. Dingfield serves in significant roles with the following organization, receiving reimbursement or compensation as listed:
- The American Academy of Hospice & Palliative Medicine, Committee Member, without compensation.
Grant funding for staff and expenses, paid to the Perelman School at the University of Pennsylvania, from the following organizations:
- The Allen H. and Selma W. Berkman Charitable Trust
- Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation
Ilanit Brook, MD, MSHS
American Board of Pediatrics
Dr. Brook is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California and serves at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) as Program Director for the Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship and as the inaugural Chief Faculty Wellness Officer, leading their wellbeing council and codirecting the peer support program. In this role, she identifies barriers to faculty wellbeing and provides opportunities to change culture and drive improvements in practice efficiencies. Dr. Brook is also an attending physician on the Comfort and Palliative Care Service with expertise in symptom management, medical decision-making and quality-of-life concerns for patients with life-threatening and life-limiting illnesses. She is an active member of the Pediatric Council of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM) and previously served as a volunteer member of the ABIM Item-Writing Task Force in Hospice and Palliative Medicine. She was appointed to the Hospice and Palliative Medicine Advisory Committee in 2023.
Dr. Brook earned her medical degree through the Sackler School of Medicine New York State/American Program of Tel Aviv University and completed her residency at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. She completed her Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Fellowship at UCLA Medical Center and her Palliative Medicine Fellowship at Kaiser Permanente Southern California/CHLA pediatric track program.
Dr. Brooks is dual-board certified in Hospice and Palliative Medicine and Pediatrics. She is proud to be a fellow of both AAHPM and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
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As of May 2023, Dr. Brook reported no ongoing external relationships.
Stephen Hays, MD
American Board of Anesthesiology
Dr. Hays is Clinical Professor of Anesthesia & Pediatrics at University of Iowa (UI) Hospitals & Clinics, Director of Pediatric Pain Services at UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital, and Vice-Chair for Faculty Affairs & Development, Department of Anesthesia, UI Carver College of Medicine. A native of Syracuse, New York and Presidential Scholar, he moved to Nashville and Vanderbilt University in 1999, and to Iowa City and UI in 2019. He is board certified in Pediatrics, Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, Anesthesiology, Pediatric Anesthesiology, and Hospice & Palliative Medicine.
Dr. Hays is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), a member of the AAP including its Sections on Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine (SOAPM), Critical Care Medicine, and Hospice & Palliative Medicine (SOHPM), and serves on the AAP SOHPM Membership & Internal Communications Work Group and the AAP SOAPM Executive Committee. He is a member of the American Society of Anesthesiologists who has served on its Committees on Pediatric Anesthesiology and Hospice & Palliative Medicine. A Full Examiner for the American Board of Anesthesiology (ABA), he serves on the ABA Standardized Oral Exam and Objective Standardized Clinical Examination Committees. He is currently Secretary-Treasurer of the Society for Pediatric Pain Medicine, a section of the Society for Pediatric Anesthesia. He received a 2004-2005 Vanderbilt Department of Anesthesiology Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching, as well as the 2011 Sandidge Pediatric Pain Management Award in Recognition of Outstanding Contributions to Pediatric Pain Management at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt.
Dr. Hays' current clinical practice focuses on perioperative care of children of all ages, with particular interests in pediatric regional anesthesia and pediatric pain management. His clinical time is divided among the pediatric operating room, the inpatient pediatric pain & palliative care services, and various pediatric outpatient clinics.
He earned simultaneous bachelor and master’s degrees in molecular biophysics & biochemistry summa cum laude with distinction in the major from Yale University, where he was elected to membership in Phi Beta Kappa. He earned his medical degree from The Johns Hopkins University, where he remained for internship and residency in pediatrics, residency in anesthesiology and critical care medicine, and fellowships in pediatric anesthesia and pediatric critical care medicine.
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As of July 2022, Dr. Hays reported the following external relationships:
Work as an author or editor for the following company, with compensation as listed:
- UpToDate®, receiving compensation for authorship.
Dr. Hays serves in significant roles with the following organizations, receiving reimbursement or compensation as listed:
- The American Academy of Pediatrics, Section on Hospice and Palliative Medicine Executive Committee, without compensation.
- The American Board of Anesthesiology, Examiner and Exam Writer, receiving reimbursement for travel expenses.
- The Society for Pediatric Pain Medicine, Board of Directors, without compensation.
Christine Kistler, MD, MASc
American Board of Family Medicine
Dr. Kistler is a tenure-track Associate Professor of Family Medicine at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill. She is a board certified family medicine physician, with added certifications in Geriatric Medicine and Hospice and Palliative Medicine. She is a health services investigator with a focus on improving the appropriateness of medical decision-making for older adults. Her work has examined the appropriateness of care that older adults receive, in a range of topics from infection control to cancer screening. She is a co-Investigator on several grants, including site Principal Investigator of the PREVENTABLE trial and a study of triggered palliative care consults in hospitalized patients with advanced dementia. She has conducted and participated in several studies focused on palliative care.
Clinically, Dr. Kistler attends on both the Family Medicine Inpatient Service and the inpatient Palliative Care Consult Service. She is the only palliative care certified physician in the UNC Department of Family Medicine. She ran the home-based primary and palliative care program, REACH, for a decade, which yielded four peer-reviewed manuscripts on their innovative model. She currently works at a local nursing home and in a post-hospitalization transitions clinic
Dr. Kistler has taught in a variety of clinical settings over the past eleven years at UNC. She has led formal classes, given scheduled didactic lectures, conducted informal teaching on rounds, and precepted. She has taught medical students, residents, and fellows in the outpatient and inpatient setting, at community and academic hospitals, in the nursing home and as a consultant in the past. Dr. Kistler is also the course co-Director for the Science of Medicine class in the UNC Medical School.
Dr. Kistler received her undergraduate degrees in animal science and multidisciplinary studies, international relations from North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina and her medical degree from UNC Chapel Hill. She completed her internship and residency in family medicine at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and her clinical fellowship in geriatrics at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF). She went on to earner a master’s degree in clinical research and complete a research fellowship in geriatrics, both at UCSF.
View my board certification status via ABMS Website
As of July 2022, Dr. Kistler reported the following external relationships:
Service on a research-related expert panel for the following company, with honoraria:
- Baptist Health, for serving as their geriatric expert.
Consulting on design of new drugs or devices, clinical trials, the use of specific agents or other research-related activities for the following company, with honoraria
- Base10, Inc., for advising on antibiotic stewardship issues for their clinical decision support tool.
Dr. Kistler serves in significant roles with the following organization, receiving reimbursement or compensation as listed:
- The American Geriatrics Society, Research Committee, Member; Public Relations Subcommittee, co-Director, without compensation.
Michael McDuffie, Ph.D.
Michael McDuffie (Ph.D.) is Associate Professor and Chair of the Philosophy Department at California State University, San Marcos (CSUSM). Specializing in bioethics and clinical ethics, he is also an adjunct faculty member at the CSUSM School of Nursing and the CSU Shiley Haynes Institute for Palliative Care. McDuffie has taught at CSUSM since 1996.
McDuffie serves as a Community Member of the Hospital Ethics Committee and Clinical Ethics Consulting Team at Palomar Health, Escondido, CA. He also sits on the Ethics Committee at Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego and the SD County Medical Society Bioethics Commission. McDuffie is a past at-large Patient Representative to the ABIM Critical Care Medicine Board. He serves on the Board of Directors of The Elizabeth Hospice, the largest no-profit hospice in San Diego County. At Palomar Health, he has also been a Community Member of the Palliative Care Committee, gaining direct exposure to the operations and typical caseload of an inpatient palliative care service.
McDuffie earned a BA in philosophy and literature at New College of Florida and a doctoral degree in philosophy at Yale University. His earlier publications fell mostly in the area of phenomenological philosophy, on topics of aesthetics, the philosophy of literature and the social construction of meaning. In recent years, he has focused on bioethics, and his current research addresses assorted topics in the philosophy of medicine and clinical ethics (mind/body interaction, neuroethics, the goals of medicine, problems of non-beneficial treatment, decision making for unrepresented patients, etc.).
As of July 2022, Dr. McDuffie reported the following external relationship:
Dr. McDuffie serves in significant roles with the following organization, receiving reimbursement or compensation as listed:
- The Elizabeth Hospice, Board of Directors, without compensation.
Mary Lynn McPherson, Pharm.D., MA, MDE, BCPS
Mary Lynn McPherson, Pharm.D., MA, MDE, BCPS, is Professor and Executive Director, Advanced Post-Graduate Education in Palliative Care in the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy in Baltimore. In addition to a PharmD degree, Dr. McPherson has a master's degree in Instructional Systems Development, and a Masters in Distance Education and e-Learning. She is the Executive Program Director of the Online Doctor of Philosophy, Master of Science and Graduate Certificate Program in Palliative Care at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. Dr. McPherson has maintained a practice in both hospice (local and national) her entire career. Dr. McPherson is particularly interested in the safe and effective use of medications in patients with a life-limiting illness, ranging from drug selection, deprescribing, and risk mitigation.
Dr. McPherson developed the first palliative care pharmacy residency in the U.S. Dr. McPherson has won numerous awards for teaching, and her innovative practice in end of life care. She has published numerous articles, chapters, and five books including the second edition of the best-selling "Demystifying Opioid Conversion Calculations: A Guide for Effective Dosing."
As of May 2023, Dr. McPherson reported the following external relationships:
Work as an author or editor for the following company, with compensation as listed:
- The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, receiving royalties for authorship of Demystifying Opioid Conversion Calculations: A Guide for Effective Dosing.
Dr. McPherson serves in significant roles with the following organization, receiving reimbursement or compensation as listed:
- The American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, Board of Directors, without compensation.
Dr. McPherson also receives consulting fees from Carroll Hospice and Calvert Hospice.
David Nowels, MD
American Board of Family Medicine
Dr. Nowels is a professor in the Department of Family Medicine, University of Colorado School of Medicine, where he has practiced and taught primary care and palliative medicine since 1993. He has been the Program Director for the Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship Program at University of Colorado for over a decade. He has extensive clinical experience in all settings where palliative medicine is practiced and, until July 2021, he actively practiced primary care medicine as well. His expertise includes teaching palliative care content to a wide variety of learners, including other clinicians in practice. HIs research focus is on advancing the understanding of palliative care in primary care settings using quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods study design. Dr. Nowels is board certified in Family Medicine and holds a Certificate of Added Qualification in Hospice and Palliative Medicine.
Between 2012 and 2017 he served on the Hospice and Palliative Medicine Test Writing Committee for the American Board of Medical Specialties national board certification exam. Beginning in 2018, and to the present, he has served on the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Review Committee for Family Medicine.
Dr. Nowels earned his bachelor’s degree from Whitworth University, Spokane, Washington and his master of public health degree from the University of Washington in Seattle. He completed his medical degree and residency at the University of Colorado Denver Medical School.
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As of November 2021, Dr. Nowels reported the following external relationships:
Dr. Nowels serves in significant roles with the following organizations, receiving reimbursement or compensation as listed:
- Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education, Family Medicine Review Committee, without compensation.
Jessica Stetz, MD
American Board of Emergency Medicine
Dr. Stetz is Assistant Professor, Simulation at The State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate Health Sciences University in the Department of Emergency Medicine and serves both there and at Kings County Hospital Centers, Brooklyn, New York. She is committed to medical education at every level, from medical student, residency and fellowship training. Her hope is to improve care within community and translate scientific knowledge into the delivery of efficient, patient-centered care. In addition to bedside teaching, most of Dr. Stetz’s teaching and scholarly activities are focused in the areas of palliative care and medical simulation. Palliative care has become the avenue by which she relieves suffering and empowers patients to make informed health care choices. Medical simulation is her tool to promote informed medical decision-making and communication strategies to learners.
Dr. Stetz earned her medical degree at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and completed her residency at Bellevue/New York University Langone Medical Center.
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As of August 2022, Dr. Stetz reported no ongoing external relationships.
Martha Twaddle, MD
American Board of Internal Medicine
Dr. Twaddle combines over thirty years of experience in the care of seriously ill people and their families in a variety of areas of service. She currently serves as the Waud Family Medical Director for Palliative Medicine & Supportive Care at Northwestern Medicine and also serves as a Clinical Professor of Medicine for Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. She is board certified in Internal Medicine and Hospice and Palliative Medicine.
Her academic work includes developing curriculum, guidelines, and models of care for healthcare professionals to provide care for the seriously ill in all settings. She works with others at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine exploring how technology and also prescriptive nature can improve health outcomes as well as collaborating nationally in the development of patient-family centered quality metrics. On behalf of the American Academy of Hospice & Palliative Medicine (AAHPM), Dr. Twaddle served as the co-Chair for the National Consensus Project for Quality Palliative Care, which completed the 4th edition of the clinical practice guidelines for the field in late October 2018.
Dr. Twaddle’s unique talents and contributions to the field of Palliative Medicine have helped increase the understanding of and access to this continuum of care, regionally and nationally. In 2013, she was named one of the 30 most influential visionaries in Hospice and Palliative Medicine by nomination of her peers via the AAHPM. She served as President of the AAHPM from 2002-2003 and on the AAHPM Board of Directors from 1997-2004. She represented the AAHPM in the creation of the initial NCP Guidelines published in 2004. She was honored with the inaugural AAHPM Josefina B. Magno Distinguished Hospice Physician Award in 2005. She was recognized in 2016 as a Distinguished Alumni of Purdue’s College of Science and “an exemplary educator and pioneering contributor to end-of-life care” as the recipient of the Compassion in Action Award by Hospice of the Valley and Santa Clara University in 2015. She was the recipient of the AAHPM Lifetime Achievement Award conferred in March 2019.
After graduating summa cum laude from Purdue University, Dr. Twaddle received her medical degree from the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis and completed her residency in internal medicine through Northwestern University McGaw School of Medicine in Chicago, Illinois, where she was Chief Resident.
As of May 2023, Dr. Twaddle reported the following external relationships:
Work as an author or editor for the following company, with compensation as listed:
- UpToDate®, receiving royalties.
Dr. Twaddle serves in a significant role with the following organization, receiving reimbursement or compensation as listed:
- The American Hospital Association, Circle of Life Award Committee, receiving reimbursement for travel expenses.