Betty Ferrell, RN, PhD, 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 organizationsDr. 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.

 

Cynda H. Rushton, PhD, RN, FAAN

Cynda Hylton Rushton, recognized as an international leader in nursing ethics, is the Anne and George L. Bunting Professor of Clinical Ethics in the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics and the School of Nursing. (Dr. Rushton holds a joint appointment in the School of Medicine’s Department of Pediatrics.) She co-chairs the Johns Hopkins Hospital’s Ethics Committee and Consultation Service. A founding member of the Berman Institute, she co-led the first National Nursing Ethics Summit, convened by the Berman Institute and School of Nursing. The 2014 Summit produced a Blueprint for 21st Century Nursing Ethics.

 

Dr. Campbell, PhD, RN is a Professor in the College of Nursing at Wayne State University.

She received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Nursing from Wayne State University and her PhD in Nursing from the University of Michigan. She was a pioneer in nurse practitioner-led inpatient palliative care in the middle 1980s. She conducts clinical research to assess and treat dyspnea among patients with advanced disease and the end of life. She developed the Respiratory Distress Observation Scale (RDOS), the only known valid and reliable tool for measuring respiratory distress when the patient cannot self-report dyspnea. The RDOS has been translated into several languages and is in global use at more than 60 clinical sites in the U.S. and 11 countries with translations into 7 languages.  She has conducted dyspnea intervention studies using the RDOS as the dependent measure and has had NIH and foundation funding. A current NIH-funded study to test the effectiveness of an RDOS-guided algorithmic approach to ventilator withdrawal compared to unstandardized usual care is underway as a multi-site, stepped wedge cluster randomized trial.

 

Nessa Coyle, ACPHN, PhD, FAAN

is a consultant in palliative care, end-of-life care and clinical ethics in oncology patients. Former Director of the Supportive Care Program of the Pain and Palliative Care Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), she retired in 2012 after over 40 years of service.  Dr. Coyle continues as a member of MSKCC’s Ethics Committee and is a facilitator in the Communication Skills Lab in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at MSKCC.

Dr. Coyle earned a diploma in nursing from St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in London England where she graduated with First Class Honors, a MS in nursing from Columbia University in New York City and a PhD in nursing from New York University. The topic of her dissertation was: The Meanings and Uses of an Expressed Desire for Hastened Death in People Living with Advanced Cancer. She completed a post-doctoral fellowship in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at MSKCC in 2005 and a one year Certificate program in Bioethics and Medical Humanities from the Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Cardozo Law School in 2006.