About Us
Mark Pfeifer, MD is an internist in active practice with a special interest in patients with advanced illness. He was recruited to the University of Louisville after completing his residency and fellowship training at Emory and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, respectively. He is a funded investigator and National Cancer Institute Study Section member, and holds an endowed chair at the University of Louisville.
Barbara Head, PhD, RN, MSSW is an associate professor at the University of Louisville School of Medicine and an affiliated faculty member at the Kent School of Social Work. Her career has been focused on improving the care of seriously ill patients and their families through clinical care, education and research. Her research interests include advanced symptom management, telehealth in palliative care, disparities in healthcare, and interdisciplinary practice and education.
Tara Schapmire, PhD, MSSW, CSW, OSW-C, FNAP, is an Assistant Professor in the University of Louisville’s School of Medicine and an Affiliated Assistant Professor for the Kent School of Social Work. Dr. Schapmire’s research interests include psycho-social care of cancer survivors and their families, gerontology, health disparities, caregiver issues, palliative care, survivorship and inter-professional education. She is a co-investigator on several federally and foundation funded projects aimed at improving interdisciplinary palliative care education, interdisciplinary geriatrics education, and a community based intervention aimed at reducing the burden of lung cancer in Kentucky.
Carla Hermann, PhD, RN is Professor and PhD Program Director at the University of Louisville School of Nursing. She has over 35 years of experience as a nurse and over 29 years of experience teaching nursing students at the baccalaureate, masters and doctoral levels. Dr. Hermann has been a PI and Co-Pi on numerous grants focused on spirituality, quality of life and symptom management in patients near the end of life.
Karen Black’s clinical background is in “Critical Care” and more recently she has moved into “Psychiatric-Mental Health” as a nurse practitioner. As an Assistant Professor at the School of Nursing, she teaches in the traditional undergraduate baccalaureate program and the RN-BSN completion program. Currently she has a part-time private practice as a psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner. Her research interests lie in intimate partner violence and PTSD.
Monica Ann Shaw, MD, MA, FACP is Professor of Medicine and Vice Dean for Undergraduate Medical Education at the University of Louisville School of Medicine. Dr. Shaw’s interests are medical education and palliative care. She led an interdisciplinary research team as they integrated palliative care content into existing first and second year courses, created and implemented a required one-week clinical rotation for medical students, and created an elective for fourth year medical students.
Lori Earnshaw, MD is an associate professor in the Department of Medicine and serves as the Section Chief of Palliative Medicine. She is a palliative care specialist who directs the Palliative Care Program at University Hospital and works daily with an interdisciplinary team and learners from different disciplines and specialties. She is passionate about palliative care education and directs both the Palliative Medicine Fellowship Program and the Palliative Medicine Clerkship, a mandatory rotation for fourth-year medical students. In addition to interprofessional education, her research and interests include bioethics, medical humanities, self-care, and health policy and advocacy.
Amy Holthouser, MD serves as Associate Dean for Medical Education and is a Med-Peds physician. Her major work activities include building and evaluating the effectiveness of the undergraduate medical curriculum. She teaches students and residents on the inpatient Pediatrics service.
Ruth Simons, MD is the medical director for the Inpatient Care Center at Hosparus, the local hospice in Louisville Kentucky. In addition she is part time faculty at the University of Louisville School of Medicine, Hospice and Palliative Care Fellowship Program.
Frank Woggon, PhD, BCC is Director of Chaplaincy Services for the Louisville downtown KentuckyOne Health medical campus and a gratis faculty member in the Department of Medicine at UofL. He directs the chaplain residency program at University Hospital and teaches about the intersection of spirituality and health. His research interests are in spiritual pain and effective clinical interventions as well as constructing a clinical theology for spiritual care giving.
Anna Faul, PhD is a professor and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the Kent School of Social Work and the Executive Director of the Institute for Sustainable Health and Optimal Aging at the University of Louisville. Her career has focused on various areas ranging from child welfare, measurement issues in social work, women and diversity issues, gerontology and heath disparities. Dr. Faul’s research agenda is directed toward the field of aging and chronic disease management.
Karen Kayser, MSW, PhD, is a Professor at the University of Louisville, Kent School of Social Work where she holds the Dr. Renato LaRocca Chair in Oncology Social Work. At Kent she has developed the first social work specialization in psychosocial oncology in the nation. She conducts research on interpersonal and cultural factors related to the adjustment to cancer. Her research also focuses on distress screening and the development of psychosocial interventions for cancer patients and their families.
Craig Ziegler, PhD is a Biostatistician who works for the Office of Medical Education. He recently completed his PhD and earned a degree in Public Health with a concentration in Health Management and System Science. His research interests include addressing problems associated with health professional shortage areas.
Amy Martin is a clinical research nurse for the Interdisciplinary Program for Palliative Care and Chronic Illness at the University of Louisville’s School of Medicine. She is a bachelor’s degree registered nurse who is presently enrolled in the University of Louisville’s School of Nursing in the Master of Science degree program. Her career has included several areas of research.
Carol Jones is the Program Coordinator for the Interdisciplinary Program for Palliative Care and Chronic Illness at the University of Louisville’s School of Medicine. Her career has been focused on educational innovation and the creation of curriculum at various educational levels. Research interests include the neuroscience of learning and the practice of learning communities.
Cindy Ellis Keeney worked as Clinical Research Nurse for University of Louisville School of Medicine. Ms. Keeney’s research interests include improving symptom management in oncology and palliative care; and developing telehealth interventions aimed at improving quality of life and self-management of patients and families dealing with life limiting illness. She is currently working with global companies developing telehealth products/services designed to improve self-management of chronic conditions and drive improved clinical outcomes.