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Featured Keynote Sessions

We are excited to share the 2024 keynote faculty for the Annual Assembly of Hospice and Palliative Care. These sessions are designed to broaden your thinking and inspire thought-provoking conversations.

Rakia Reynolds - Compassionate Storytelling: How to Foster Joy, Celebration and Empathy while Sparking Resilience

Thursday, March 21, 2024

Rakia Reynolds headshot blue

There is one word that sums up the most necessary skill for successful thought leaders today and that is storyteller. In today's climate, there is nothing more important than the ability to connect, motivate, and lead people.

Often as a field people get caught up with the daily experience of their service/product and forget that with the right story, marketing, (messaging) and even customer service they can create a new level of authenticity with current patients and families and often build bridges with a new audience of colleagues and communities they wish to reach.

Rakia Reynolds leads this powerful talk with the lessons that she has imparted on her name brand clients as they navigate the new normal and stand out from the crowd.

Key Takeaways

  • Humanizing your brand both internally and externally is now just as important as creating an unforgettable customer experience.
  • If the personality of your company accurately reflects a true set of values and passions, you’ll organically attract an audience whose core ideals align with those of your brand.

Mary Lynn McPherson, PharmD PhD BCPS FAAHPM - The Tapestry of Teamwork: Crafting a High Functioning Interprofessional Palliative Care Team

Friday, March 22, 2024

The field of palliative care has woven a tapestry of teamwork that is unparalleled. Despite this, there remain opportunities and challenges to “level up” and strengthen the tenets that allow interprofessional care to flourish. With mounting pressures of workforce shortages, limited resources, and recovering from an international pandemic, threading this needle for teams can be more challenging than ever. This fast-paced presentation will explore the high quality interprofessional teamwork that has become the fabric of our field, and how to leverage this to meet the needs of the seriously ill population.

State of the Science of Hospice and Palliative Care 

Saturday, March 23, 2024


The State of the Science keynote returns on Saturday to look at the latest research in hospice and palliative care over the past year and discuss the future of research education and what's coming in the advancement of palliative care and hospice research. Karen Bullock, PhD LICSW APHSW-C FGSA, will be moderating the discussion on following research:

  • Nurse-led Telephonic Case Management versus Outpatient Palliative Care in Older Adults with Serious Illness
    Presenter: Corita R. Grudzen, MD MSHS FACEP
  • Clinician Nudges for Serious Illness Communication Among Critically Ill Patients: A Pragmatic Trial
    Presenter: Kate Courtright, MD MS
  • Randomized Trial of Inpatient Palliative Care for Patients Undergoing Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation
    Presenter: Thomas W. Leblanc, MD MA MHS FAAHPM FASCO

The State of the Science keynote is a part of a larger research conference entitled "The State of the Science in Hospice and Palliative Care", happening March 22-24, 2024 in Phoenix.