Our Faculty and Staff
We work as an interdisciplinary team to provide expert care of the physical, emotional, psychological, and existential aspects of living with serious illness. We see patients in the hospital at both University and Memorial campuses and in our 5-day per week outpatient clinic in the ACC Building at University.
Jennifer Reidy, MD, MS, FAAHPM
Division Chief
Clinical/Research Focus:
- Outpatient palliative care
- Humanism and social justice in health care
- Program Director, UMass Palliative Medicine Fellowship
- Medical education leadership and research
- Serious illness communication (Vital Talk Faculty)
- Mentoring
- Quality improvement (UMass Quality Scholar)
- Community-based palliative care program development
Vandana Nagpal, MD, FACP, FAAHPM
Associate Division Chief
Clinical/Research Focus:
- Inpatient palliative care
- Serious illness communication (Vital Talk Senior Faculty)
- Division Quality Officer (UMass Quality Scholar)
- Founding associate program director for UMass Palliative Medicine Fellowship
- UMass Chan Learning Community House Mentor
- Healthcare provider wellness
Adam Bliss, DNP, AGPCNP-C, ACHPN
Clinical/Research Focus:
- Leadership of the UMass Hospice Support Program
- Inpatient palliative care
- Community medicine
- Homeless outreach
- Quality and patient safety
Learn more about Adam Bliss' work in underserved communities here.
Deborah Horgan
Palliative Care Administrator
Isabel Castro, DO
Clinical/Research Focus:
- Inpatient palliative care
- Mentoring trainees from communities underrepresented in medicine
- Medical director of palliative care service at Memorial Hospital
- Core faculty for UMass Palliative Medicine Fellowship
- Teaching students, residents, and colleagues
Rebecca Kowaloff, DO
Clinical/Research Focus:
- Inpatient palliative care
- Core faculty for UMass Palliative Medicine Fellowship
- Inpatient lead for palliative care education
- Narrative medicine (read Dr. Kowaloff's essay and listen to her ASCO podcast)
Pamela Lane, MSN, FNP-C, PMGT-BC, ACHPN
Clinical/Research Focus:
- Outpatient palliative care
- Board certified in pain management and palliative care
- Complex cancer pain syndromes
- Use of buprenorphine for chronic and cancer pain
- Patient and family education and support
Sara Lyon, RN, MS
Outpatient Nurse Navigator
Clinical/Research Focus:
- Outpatient palliative care
- Triaging patient and family crises and needs
- Guiding patients and families through a complex health care system
- Building networks of referring medical teams and nurse navigators to improve patient care
- Outpatient data collection and analysis to improve outcomes
Mary-Carla MacDonald, MA, MT-BC, FAMI
Clinical/Research Focus:
- Inpatient palliative care
- Cultural humility and trauma-informed care
- Role of music in symptom management, disorders of consciousness, altered mental status, and neurologic rehabilitation
- Clinical research with neurology and psychiatry colleagues
- Living and dying with dignity, agency, and emotional well-being
- Communication, relationship, and elevating patient/family voices in healthcare
Nancy McCool, LICSW
Lead SW
Clinical/Research Focus:
- Inpatient palliative care
- Self-care for healthcare workers
- Teaching serious illness communication to social workers
- Trauma-informed care and mental health care for incarcerated people
- Core faculty for the UMass Palliative Medicine Fellowship
- Graduate of the Zelda Foster Leadership Fellowship, NYU Silver School of Social Work
Carolyn Murphy, MD
Clinical/Research Focus:
- Inpatient and outpatient palliative care
- Associate Program Director, UMass Palliative Medicine Fellowship
- Ambulatory lead for palliative care education
- Complex cancer and chronic pain management, including sickle cell disease
- Serious illness communication (Vital Talk training)
Joshua Clouette, PA
Clinical/Research Focus:
- Inpatient palliative care
- Neurocritical care
- Serious illness communication
- Quality improvement
Shawna Steadman, DNP, ACNP, ACHPN
Lead APP/Clinical Service Line Coordinator
Clinical/Research Focus:
- Inpatient palliative care
- Instructor, Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing
- Mentoring and empowering advanced practice providers
- Serious illness communication
- Quality improvement
Janet Tyndall, LICSW
Clinical/Research Focus:
- Inpatient palliative care
- Palliative care social work lead at Memorial Hospital
- Patient and family support and education
- Guardianship and health care proxies