Betty Ferrell, PhD, RN, MA, FAAN, FPCN, CHPN

has been in nursing for 44 years and has focused her clinical expertise and research in pain management, quality of life, and palliative care.  Dr. Ferrell is the Director of Nursing Research & Education and a Professor at the City of Hope Medical Center in Duarte, California.  She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and she has over 480 publications in peer-reviewed journals and texts.  She is Principal Investigator of the “End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC)” project.   She directs several other funded projects related to palliative care in cancer centers and QOL issues.  Dr. Ferrell was Co-Chairperson of the National Consensus Project for Quality Palliative Care.   Dr. Ferrell completed a Masters degree in Theology, Ethics and Culture from Claremont Graduate University in 2007.  She has authored eleven books including the Oxford Textbook of Palliative Nursing (5th Edition, 2019) published by Oxford University Press.  She is co-author of the text, The Nature of Suffering and the Goals of Nursing published in 2008 by Oxford University Press and Making Health Care Whole: Integrating Spirituality into Patient Care (Templeton Press, 2010).  In 2013 Dr. Ferrell was named one of the 30 Visionaries in the field by the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine.  In 2019 she was elected a member of the National Academy of Medicine.

 

Ashley Leak Bryant PhD, RN, OCN, FGSA, FAAN

Ashley Leak Bryant is an experienced oncology, gerontological, and palliative care nurse researcher, educator, and advocate. She is an overarching goal of her program of research is to develop, implement, and disseminate palliative and functional interventions starting in the hospital and extending into the home setting for adults with blood cancers and their caregivers. Dr. Bryant has a NIH funded grant focused on palliative and supportive care in adults with acute myeloid leukemia using an interdisciplinary team approach of nurses, physical and occupational therapists to address and manage symptoms and function. She is dually certified as an oncology and gerontological nurse. 

Dr. Bryant is an Associate Professor in School of Nursing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Nursing and Assistant Director of the Cancer Research Career Enhancement at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. She works at Transitions Lifecare where she cares for individuals during their end-of-life journey of a life changing illness. She completed her BSN and MSN in Nursing Administration at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, PhD in Nursing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel School of Nursing, and Cancer Care Quality Training Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel School of Global Public Health. She is a Fellow in the Gerontological Society of America and American Academy of Nursing. 

 

 

 

 

 

Billy Rosa, PhD, MBE, NP-BC, FAANP, FAAN

Dr. Billy Rosa is Chief Research Fellow, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Cancer Center. He completed his PhD and Master of Bioethics as an RWJF Future of Nursing Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the editor of four books and has contributed more than 150 academic publications. He was lead researcher for the 2021 Nurses for Health Equity: Guidelines for Tackling the Social Determinants of Health policy report supported by the World Health Organization, among others.  Dr. Rosa has been recognized with numerous distinctions, including Sigma’s international Research Dissertation Award and the national Public Health Service Award for Distinguished Practice in Nursing from the American Nurses Association. He was most recently named to the Crain’s New York Business Notable in Health Care 2021 list. He serves on the editorial boards for the Journal of Hospice and Palliative Nursing, Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, and American Journal of Nursing, and as a board/committee member for multiple global health and palliative care organizations. Dr. Rosa is an International Council of Nurses Global Nursing Leadership Institute Scholar and an American Psychosocial Oncology Society Health Equity Scholar. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, the American College of Critical Care Medicine, and the New York Academy of Medicine.

 

Lynn F. Reinke, PhD, ANP-BC, FAAN, FPCN 

Dr. Reinke received her PhD from the University of Washington School of Nursing in 2008. She completed a Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Health Services R&D at the VA Health Care System in Seattle. Recognizing the importance of research informing health policy, she was a Health and Aging Policy Fellow from 2016-2017. She served as a Co-Director of the UW Palliative Care Graduate Certificate Program from 2019-2021. In January 2022, Dr. Reinke assumed the position of the Claire Dumke Ryberg, RN, Presidential Endowed Chair for Palliative and End of Life Care at the University of Utah, College on Nursing. In 2024, she was appointed Director of the Center for Family Integrated Healthcare within the College of Nursing.

Dr. Reinke’s clinical practice and program of research focuses on improving the delivery of palliative and end-of-life care for patients and their families with serious illnesses. She is internationally recognized as an expert in dyspnea management for patients diagnosed with advanced lung diseases. Her studies, funded by NIH and VA, are designed to test nurse-led palliative care interventions and on improving the quality of clinicians’ end-of-life communication skills.

Dr. Reinke was selected in the inaugural cohort of the Cambia Sojourns Scholars Leadership Program in 2014. She is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and serves as the 2024 President for the Hospice & Palliative Nursing Association and Foundation.

 

Tamryn Fowler Gray, PhD, BSN, MSN, MPH 

Dr. Gray is an Assistant Professor at the UNC School of Nursing and a Full Member of the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. Her research focuses on enhancing psychosocial outcomes, improving care delivery, and advancing health equity for family caregivers of individuals affected by cancer and other serious illnesses. Dr. Fowler Gray’s work centers on developing scalable interventions and innovative solutions that drive health systems and policy changes. Her goal is to leverage family-centered care, palliative care, and care transitions as key strategies to improve health outcomes, equity, quality, and cost-effectiveness.

Dr. Fowler Gray earned her BSN and MSN from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an MPH in Epidemiology from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and a PhD from the Johns Hopkins University, where she was recognized as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Future of Nursing Scholar. Her work has received funding from prestigious organizations, including the RWJF Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Program, the Oncology Nursing Foundation, the American Cancer Society, the Cambia Health Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Betty Irene Moore Fellowship for Nurse Leaders and Innovators, and the Oppenheimer Family Psychosocial Oncology and Palliative Care Research Grants Program. Additionally, she is a past recipient of the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association Research Scholar Award.

With clinical expertise in pediatrics, hematology, oncology, and blood and marrow transplantation, Dr. Fowler Gray has spent several years practicing in these specialized areas.

In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, engaging in DIY projects, podcasting, exploring a variety of book genres at local bookstores, poetry, spending quality time with family and friends, and taking nature walks with her beloved dog, Cooper Scott.