This conference was designed to inform clinicians about pediatric palliative care.  This emerging specialty focuses on the prevention and relief of the physical and emotional distress of seriously or chronically ill children and their families. 

Pediatric Palliative Care Regional Conference featured nationally known experts who discussed recent advances in the field, including research trends, patient management strategies, and ethical issues.

Learn more about the Connell School's pediatric palliative care program here.

Conference Speakers

Betty Ferrell, RN, PhD, MA, FAAN, FPCN has practiced oncology nursing for 34 years and has focused her clinical expertise and research in pain management, quality of life, and palliative care. Dr. Ferrell is a Professor and Research Scientist at the City of Hope Medical Center in Los Angeles. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and she has over 300 publications in peer-reviewed journals and texts. She is the Principal Investigator of the “End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC)” project including ELNEC Pediatrics. Dr. Ferrell is a member of the Board of Scientific Advisors of the National Cancer Institute and was Chairperson of the national Consensus Project for Quality Palliative Care. She has authored eight books in palliative care. Dr. Ferrell completed a Masters degree in Theology, Ethics and Culture from Claremont Graduate University in 2007. View Dr. Ferrell's slides.

Dr. Joanne Wolfe is the Division Chief of Pediatric Palliative Care in the Department of Psychosocial Oncology and Palliative Care at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) and the Director of Palliative Care at Children’s Hospital Boston (CHB). She is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and holds an MD degree (1990) from Harvard Medical School and an MPH (1998) from the Harvard School of Public Health.  Her research and practice focuses on understanding and easing suffering in children with life-threatening illnesses. View Dr. Wolfe's slides.

Penelope Buschman, MS, RN, PMHCNS-BC: While practicing as a Child Psychiatric Mental Health Clinical specialist in a large urban children’s hospital for more than 25 years, Penelope has learned pediatric palliative care from experts, those children and families whose lives were forever altered by life threatening disease and disability. Those lessons have informed my current work as an educator, consultant, writer and researcher.

Fr. John J. Paris served as a consultant to the President’s Commission for the Study of Ethics in Medicine, the United States Senate Committee on Aging, and the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment. He has published over 180 articles in the areas of law, medicine and ethics in publications as The New England Journal of Medicine, The Journal of American Medical Association, The Journal of Intensive Care Medicine, and The Wall Street Journal. He is the Ethics Section Editor of The Journal of Perinatology. He also served as a consultant and expert witness in many landmark biomedical cases including Quinlan, Brophy, Jobes, Baby K and Gilgunn.

Video Presentation: One Family’s Journey: Coping with Huntington’s Disease
Vanessa Battista, RN, MS, CPNP, Clinical Faculty, Boston College School of Nursing Pediatric Palliative Care Program. View this video in its entirety.