AAHPM Leadership Forum: Ascend Faculty and Navigators

Dr. Michelle Barton is an Associate Professor at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School where her research focuses on organizational and team resilience, managing uncertainty, and interpersonal effectiveness during adversity.

Drawing from wildland firefighting, high-tech entrepreneurship, expedition racing and military operations, she studies how groups make sense of ambiguous situations, how they coordinate, learn and share knowledge in the midst of confusion and how they mitigate and recover from adversity. She is especially focused on the relational dynamics that enable these practices. Dr. Barton’s research has appeared in many academic and practitioner journals (e.g., Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, Academy of Management Review, Organization Studies) and she has presented her work at venues such as NASA, the U.S. Army Medical Command, Johns Hopkins University Patient Safety Conference, and Boston Medical Center among others.

Prior to her academic career, Dr. Barton spent ten years with Harvard Business Publishing, where she was a co-founder of their eLearning business and the global Product Director for Leadership and Management Development programs. She has a B.A. from Pomona College and a PhD from the University of Michigan.

Vanessa Battista, is a board-certified Pediatric Nurse Practitioner (PNP) and currently serves as Senior Nursing Director of Palliative Care at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Previously, she practiced as a PNP on the Pediatric Advanced Care Team (PACT) at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), as well as the neuromuscular centers at CHOP, The Columbia University Medical Center and The Children’s Hospital of Boston. She was also clinical faculty at The Boston College Connell School of Nursing where she developed the Pediatric Palliative Care Masters subspecialty program and is currently adjunct faculty at Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing. Dr. Battista earned her bachelor's degree from Boston College in psychology, with minors in health sciences and faith, peace, and justice studies; her nursing degree and master’s degree from Columbia University School of Nursing; and completed a certificate in Pastoral Ministry at the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry. Dr. Battista obtained her Master of Business Administration and Doctor of Nursing Practice from Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. El-Shanawany graduated Suma Cum Laude from October 6 University - Faculty of Medicine, Egypt. Then, she joined Albert Einstein University - Family Medicine residency and Palliative Care fellowship at Jamaica Hospital, New York. Initially, she was an attending physician at the premier Calvary Hospital, New York. Following she became hospice medical director at Metropolitan Jewish Health System, New York. Afterwards, she served as associate fellowship director of Palliative Care/oncology hospitalist at NY-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, New York. Later, she joined the Northwell Health System as Director of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine (GAP) and Co-chair of Biomedical Ethics at Plainview and Syosset Hospitals. She got promoted to the position of Northwell Eastern Region Director for the Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine.

Throughout her medical career, Dr. El Shanawany has demonstrated noted interest in Biomedical Ethics and worked hard to develop leadership skills through postgraduate training. Dr. El Shanawany is board-certified in Family Medicine, Palliative Care, and Biomedical Ethics. She completed the Palliative Care Education and Practice (PCEP) Course at Harvard University Medical School. In addition, she attended the Clinical Bioethics Certificate Program at Hofstra University - School of Law. She sits on the GAP Education Council within the division, and she is currently participating in the Northwell Eastern Region Leadership Program as well as MBA program in healthcare management at Hofstra University.

Dr. Friedman is the President of the AAHPM.  She is HPM fellowship-trained and board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in Hospice and Palliative Medicine. She recently joined Chapters Health System (Temple Terrace, FL) as Chief Medical Officer, where she provides leadership and oversight of medical service functions across the entire enterprise. She previously worked at Aspire Health where she progressed through various promotions, rising to VP and National Medical Officer.  In that role, she provided executive clinical leadership for Aspire's innovative community-based palliative care delivery models. Before joining Aspire, Dr. Friedman spent 10 years at Vitas Healthcare, serving as Senior Medical Director for a large urban hospice program and five years as the medical director of hospice-based national palliative care practice, developing hospital-based interdisciplinary palliative care consultative services. Dr. Friedman's Academy service includes numerous volunteer positions including six years serving the Academy Board as a Director-at-Large, and three years on the AAHPM Executive Committee as the Academy’s Treasurer and President-Elect.

Dr. Gomez is a graduate of the University of Washington School of Medicine. She is currently the Medical Director of Care and Value for WellMed Medical Management in Houston where she is tasked with overseeing their Post-Acute Network, Care Management initiatives and strategic programs for the most seriously ill patients in their Medicare Advantage population. She is an Adjunct Associate Professor at MD Anderson Cancer Center and a national level speaker in the areas of communication, care of the seriously ill and palliative care. Her previous work at Memorial Hermann Health System, the largest not-for profit health system in Southeast Texas, led to the development of 8 inpatient palliative care programs in their community hospitals. She and her teams have received numerous awards including the Circle of Life Citation of Honor and her private practice was a finalist for the International Hospital Federation’s Award in Quality, Safety & Patient Centered Care. She currently lives on a 10 acre farm with her husband and 5 children ages 7 to 18.

Jillian Gustin is an Associate Professor at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus, OH where she serves as Director of the Division of Palliative Medicine in the Department of Internal Medicine and recently stepped down after 9 years as the Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship Program Director. She has had a national presence in education leadership including member of AAHPM’s HPM Entrustable Professional Activities workgroup, co-chair of the Curricular Milestone as well as the ACGME’s HPM-specific Reporting Milestones workgroups. She is also an active member of the Alliance of Designated Cancer Centers’ Physician Advisory Workgroup and Improving Goal Concordant Care Workgroup. She has served on multiple administrative, clinical and education committees at her home institution of OSUWMC. She graduated medical school from The Ohio State University College of Medicine, completed her Internal Medicine Residency at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center (OSUWMC) and finished fellowship training in Hospice and Palliative Medicine (HPM) at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Her career goals include expanding access to high-quality palliative care to patients in inpatient and ambulatory settings and increasing goal concordant care through communication skills training to physicians who care for seriously ill patients.

Darryl Harris is a powerhouse with expertise that enables him to empower, develop, teach, train and energize teams, team leaders, managers and staff across the USA and internationally. He helps improve productivity, processes, skills and working relationships for enhanced bottom line results. He has over 30 years of experience helping organizations and individuals improve their effectiveness. He is a skilled speaker, trainer, facilitator and coach.

Born in South Africa and having worked on five continents, he brings a rich mosaic to his work. Thousands of people and leading companies in all manner of industries have benefited from Darryl's keynote speeches, training seminars, facilitated team sessions, coaching, consulting and leadership.

Upon moving to the United States in 2001, Darryl has worked closely with The Carroll-Keller Group. He became a partner of the group in 2010. He has delivered results in the medical, manufacturing, insurance, medical insurance, banking, finance, technology, services, utilities, government and local government and retail industries as well as many associations, such as ASDA, NAR, ASA and The Society of Plastic Surgeons.

Every bit of work has, to date, resulted in him being invited back to do further work in the organization.

Bio coming soon.

Christina Rowe is Gallup-Certified in Strength-based coaching for individuals, management, and teams. Holding a Master of Science in Organizational Leadership, which concentrated on successful organizational development, change, and culture, she helps teams know, communicate, and function together. Working with StrengthsFinder 2.0 empowers teams to understand the unique perspectives and skills of each team member, and creates a path to high performance and engagement. Highly engaged teams are more productive and report higher quality of life.

Christina has worked with board of directors in many fields, as well as leaders in their industries from medical specialties, technology, construction, to creative production. Her love of working closely with leaders to create positive change and impactful cultures has taught her that anything can be achieved when you know the tools present on your team and how to apply them to challenges.

Dr. Randy Schisler is the Palliative Care Regional Medical Director Winston-Salem NC. He attended The Ohio State University for both his undergraduate studies and medical school, then completed an Internal Medicine residency at Washington University- St. Louis (Barnes Jewish Hospital). After residency, he completed a Hospice and Palliative Medicine fellowship at the National Institutes of Health and Capital Hospice. After finishing his training, Dr. Schisler took a job at a 450 bed hospital just outside of Charlotte, NC with Atrium Health which he expanded the  multi-disciplinary team and doubled inpatient encounters under his leadership.  He currently leads a busy multidisciplinary team of 10 advance practice providers, RN, LPN, and LCSW doing over 2500 consults per year.

Major projects completed include being lead physician rewriting the DNAR policy for a 40+ hospital healthcare system and led a group improving the comfort care and discontinuation of life support order sets. Nationally, he is the prior Chair of the AAHPM Communities Committee, AAHPM Early Career Professionals committee, and has worked as a content expert on multiple projects with CAPC (Center to Advance Palliative Care) and getpalliativecare.org.  In 2015, he was named Fellow of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM) and was named in 2014 was named as one of the 40 Inspiration Leaders under the age of 40 by AAHPM.

Dr. Scharlotte Spencer is a board-certified family nurse practitioner currently lead nurse practitioner for Wellmed Medical Management in Houston, Tx. She began her nursing career as an associate degree prepared nurse from Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College in infectious disease, specializing in HIV/TB in 2003 at University of LouisianaCharity Hospital.

A New Orleans native, in 2005, she relocated to Spring, Texas and began her work on a medical oncology unit at Memorial Hermann the Woodlands hospital. Her duties included administering chemotherapy, educating patients, families and staff on the care of the oncology patient as well as educating staff members on the administration of chemotherapy. Returning to school in 2007, Scharlotte received her Bachelor of Science in nursing from Prairie View A&M University in 2009. Scharlotte continued to work on the medical oncology unit participating in cutting edge chemotherapy administration which included intraperitoneal chemotherapy and chemotherapy desensitization. She held leadership positions on several committees with the emphasis in nursing advocacy and patient care. She also became a staff champion in palliative care where the focus was advocating and educating patients, staff and families in palliative medicine.

Scharlotte returned to school and graduated in 2013 from Prairie View A&M university with a master’s in nursing specializing in family nurse practitioner. Prior to graduation, she was offered a position as a palliative care nurse practitioner by her former employer. A strong advocate for advance care planning and palliative medicine, Scharlotte is involved in educating patients, families and medical professionals in supportive medicine and end of life care. In 2017, Scharlotte received her Doctor of Nursing Practice in Advanced Practice Leadership from Chamberlain University. Her dissertation was focused on diabetes self-management in the minority population.

A published author with an expertise in models of community based Palliative Care and has received multiple awards for her work including the Emma McMorris RN Spirituality Award in 2019. She was recently invited to join the Faculty at Sam Houston State University School of Nursing as a Clinical Assistant Professor where she is a clinical and didactic course coordinator and clinical faculty. She shares her expertise and knowledge in palliative care and hospice with future registered nurses.  In her current role at Wellmed, Scharlotte is the Enterprise educator for supportive care and in Houston she is in the trenches seeing patients while working with Wellmed leadership in growing the supportive care market.

In addition, she serves as a member of the Hospice and palliative nurse association, Houston Area Nurse Practitioner Association and the American Association of Nurse Practitioners.

Scharlotte is very passionate about health and wellness, behavioral changes and self-motivation. She is a powerlifter who holds state records in deadlifting and bench-pressing. Scharlotte is a wife for over 20 years to her high school sweetheart Larry, who is a paramedic and mother to a beautiful and energetic 17-year-old, Journee.

Dr. Walton is currently Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and Staff Physician at the Birmingham VA Medical Center. In addition to providing clinical geriatric and palliative care for patients and families in the acute care setting, Dr. Walton consults with multiple serious illness management organizations to improve the care of community-dwelling adults living with serious illness and previously served as the Medical Director for the Community Based Palliative Care Program of Affinity Hospice also in Birmingham, Alabama. Within the UAB Center for Palliative and Supportive Care (CPSC) Dr. Walton served as Director of the Center Scholars Forum from 2018 until 2021 which, along with the Center Research Scholars Program, aims to cultivate and promote innovation and collaboration in the advancement of palliative and supportive care research across the University of Alabama at Birmingham and beyond. Dr. Walton is active in health services research, holding appointments within the Birmingham/Atlanta Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center (GRECC) and the Center for Palliative and Supportive Care where he also serves as a Center Research Scholar. Dr. Walton’s research interests include health and aging policy, access to care and telehealth, and palliative care in the post-acute care setting. Dr. Walton is Board Certified in Family Medicine, Geriatric Medicine and Hospice and Palliative Medicine with an advanced degree in Health Management and Policy.

David Wang is the System Director of Palliative Medicine at Scripps Health. He has responsibility over P&L, quality, and clinical affairs for a service line of thirty providers across twelve sites of care. Dr. Wang is a national thought leader advancing the integration of palliative care and emergency medicine. He has created nationwide guidelines around clinical practice, operational models, and medical education. He is a Cambia Foundation Sojourns Scholar, twice recipient of the AAHPM Paper Award, and writes for the American Board of Emergency Medicine.