Faculty & Mentors
Learn from a dedicated network of experts shaping the future of palliative social work. Our faculty brings decades of clinical experience leadership and academic excellence to every session.
ESPEC Founder / Project DIrector & ESPEC Oncology Co-Investigator
Dr. Myra Glajchen
Myra Glajchen, DSW, MSW, BSW, ACSW, APHSW-C, FAOSW, is Project Director for Educating Social Workers in Palliative and End-of-Life Care (ESPEC), a national training program for social workers. She is Co-Investigator for ESPEC Oncology: Transforming Psychosocial and Palliative Cancer Care, an NIH/NCI-funded grant delivering a comprehensive, oncology-tailored, evidence-based curriculum to build leadership and palliative care skills for oncology social workers nationwide. She is Director of Education and Training in the MJHS Institute, Director of the Social Work Internship, Physician Fellowship, and Interprofessional Training. She is Assistant Professor of Family and Social Medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Dr. Glajchen has extensive experience as a social work clinician, educator, and researcher in oncology and palliative social work. She was a board member of the Social Work Hospice and Palliative Care Network (SWHPN), Past President for the Advanced Palliative Hospice Social Work Certification (APHSW-C), and a CE provider for Social Work in New York State. Dr. Glajchen has a distinguished teaching portfolio. She serves as core faculty for ESPEC and ELNEC. She is a frequent local and national presenter with numerous publications on caregiver burden, family meetings, interprofessional training, and palliative care. Dr Glajchen has received national honors as the Hyman J Wiener Award recipient for scholarship and excellence from the Society for Social Work Leadership in Health Care and as a Fellow of AOSW.
ESPEC Co-Director & ESPEC Oncology Co-Investigator
Shirley Otis-Green
Shirley Otis-Green, MSW, MA, ACSW, LCSW, OSW-C, FNAP, FAOSW is the founder of Collaborative Caring, a consulting practice dedicated to enhancing excellence in the delivery of contextualized care to more equitably address the symptoms and stress of serious illness. Her education, research and consultation efforts focus on quality of life, interprofessional leadership and creating meaningful organizational change. As Principal Investigator on studies with over $3.5 million in external funding, her work has been recognized with numerous awards and disseminated through more than 100 publications and 500 professional presentations. She is a Co-Investigator on the National Cancer Institute-funded educational grant, “ESPEC Oncology: Transforming Psychosocial and Palliative Cancer Care.” Shirley is a National Association of Social Workers Pioneer, California Health Care Foundation Leadership Fellow and a Distinguished Social Work Practitioner in the National Academies of Practice. She was among the first to receive a Master of Arts in Health Research - Palliative Care from Lancaster University in Great Britain, and is co-editor of the The Oxford Textbook of Palliative Social Work (Second Edition).
Principal Investigator: ESPEC Oncology & ESPEC Advisory Board Member
Dr. Tara Schapmire
Tara Schapmire, PhD, MSSW, OSW-C, APHSW-C, FAOSW, FAPOS, earned her PhD in Social Work from the University of Louisville, where she is a Professor in the School of Medicine and holds an honorary appointment in the Kent School of Social Work. Her scholarship focuses on psychosocial oncology, gerontology, palliative care, and interprofessional collaborative practice.
Dr. Schapmire is Principal Investigator of an NIH/NCI-funded ESPEC Oncology, a national training initiative delivering an oncology-specific, evidence-based curriculum to strengthen leadership and primary palliative care competencies among oncology social workers. She also serves as Co-Investigator on multiple HRSA-funded, multi-year grants advancing interprofessional education in Age-Friendly Healthcare and integrated primary care behavioral health models across medicine, nursing, dentistry, pharmacy, public health, and social work. In addition, she is site PI for an NCI R01 randomized clinical trial testing a precision survivorship intervention to improve quality of life for rural lung cancer survivors.
Her prior work includes co-leading an NIH/NCI project preparing oncology educators in interprofessional palliative oncology education and serving as Co-Investigator on NIH/NCI and American Cancer Society funded studies, including development of a required interdisciplinary oncology palliative care curriculum and research on emotional distress in older adults with cancer.
Dr. Schapmire has received national honors from AOSW and the American Cancer Society. A Past President and Fellow of AOSW and a 2025 Fellow of the American Psychosocial Oncology Society, she serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Psychosocial Oncology.
ESPEC Oncology Co-Investigator
Dr. Barbara Jones
Dean Barbara Jones, PhD, MSW, FAOSW, is a nationally recognized leader in psychosocial oncology and palliative care. She joined Boston University School of Social Work in 2023 after nearly two decades at the University of Texas at Austin. There, she served as University Distinguished Professor, Lockhart Memorial Professor in Direct Social Work Practice, founding director of the Institute for Collaborative Health Research and Practice, and Associate Dean for Health Affairs in the Steve Hicks School of Social Work. She was also the inaugural chair of the Department of Health Social Work at Dell Medical School, helping to bridge social work and medicine. A first-generation college student, Dr. Jones earned her PhD and MSW from the University at Albany (NY) and practiced clinical social work for 15 years. She served as core faculty for the Initiative for Pediatric Palliative Care at Boston Children’s Hospital and currently sits on national advisory boards for the Cambia Health Foundation Sojourns Scholars Leadership Program and the American Cancer Society’s Center for Diversity in Research Training. She also serves on the steering committee of the Coalition for Social Work and Health. Her NIH- and American Cancer Society funded research focuses on improving care for children, adolescents, and young adults with cancer and their families. She has co-edited three books, authored more than 120 peer-reviewed articles, and received numerous honors, including induction into the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare and the American Cancer Society’s Pathfinder in Palliative Care Award.
ESPEC Oncology Co-Investigator
Dr. Brad Zebrack
Brad Zebrack, PhD, MSW, MPH, FAPOS, FAOSW has research and teaching interests in the areas of health, psychosocial oncology, medical social work and health service delivery. His research on quality of life and cancer survivorship over the past 25 years has been supported by the National Cancer Institute (K07, R03, R01), the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), and HopeLab Inc. His current NCI-funded research involves the identification of functional genomic pathways through which social and psychological factors — including childhood trauma exposure, structural racism and social isolation — influence gene regulation and are associated with disparities in health outcomes for cancer patients and survivors. Zebrack has clinical social work experience in both pediatric and adult oncology. He also has been involved in the development and evaluation of peer support programs for adolescent and young adult cancer survivors. In 2017, Zebrack was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship for study in Australia, where he collaborated with colleagues to develop and evaluate supportive care services for adolescents and young adults affected by cancer.
Zebrack is a member of the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center, Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences. He is a fellow to the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR), the American Psychosocial Oncology Society (APOS) and the Association for Oncology Social Work (AOSW).
Staff
ESPEC Oncology Project Manager
Bonika Peters
Bonika Peters, MPH is a Program Manager in the University of Louisville's School of Medicine. She has over 15 years of experience coordinating the day-to-day activities of public health and interprofessional programs and grants in academic and clinic settings. Her experience includes program planning, management, and evaluation. Ms. Peters previously managed the Advanced Palliative Hospice Social Worker-Certified (APHSW-C) and InterProfessional Education Exchange (iPEX) programs at the University of Louisville. She currently manages ESPEC Oncology: Transforming Psychosocial and Palliative Cancer Care, a newly awarded NIH funded R25 grant.
Success from the Field
"The mentorship I received through ESPEC allowed me to implement a new screening protocol that has directly improved patient outcomes in our oncology unit." — 2025 Cohort Participant
Expert Guidance from Compassionate Leaders
Our ESPEC Core faculty and mentors bring decades of combined clinical experience, providing the practical insights needed to lead change in healthcare social work.
Vickie Leff, MSW, LCSW
Palliative Care Consultant & Adjunct Instructor, Wurzweiler School of Social Work, NYC
A highly experienced Palliative Care Consultant and ESPEC Master Trainer, Vickie Leff brings over thirty-five years of clinical expertise in hospice and oncology to her role. Her distinguished career includes leadership as the Executive Director of SWHPN and the APHSW certification board, where she has focused on equipping practitioners with vital skills in resilience and moral distress management.
Beyond her educational leadership, Vickie is a prolific author and researcher who has contributed to leading journals such as Health Affairs and JPSM. She serves on the editorial board of the Social Work in Health Care Journal and holds a Master of Social Work from the Simmons School of Social Work, continuing her dedicated work on the Board of Directors for the Center for Practical Bioethics.
Linda Mathew, DSW, MSW, LCSW-R
Social Work Manager, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Dr. Linda Mathew is a renowned Social Work Manager at Memorial Sloan Kettering, where she specializes in trauma-informed care and palliative support. A distinguished alumna of NYU’s Silver School of Social Work, she has pioneered impactful initiatives such as the REACH for Caregivers program and provides leadership within the Social Work Department’s Antiracism Committee. Her exceptional contributions to clinical practice have earned her prestigious honors from both the NASW and the Social Work Hospice and Palliative Care Network.
In her role with ESPEC, Dr. Mathew serves as a master trainer and board member, leveraging her extensive expertise to educate the next generation of social workers. She is a published author and a Past-President of the Association of Oncology Social Work, currently dedicating her time as an adjunct faculty member at Smith College and NYU to advance excellence in palliative and end-of-life care.
Impact Spotlight
"The mentorship guidance led our team to implement a new palliative care protocol that significantly improved communication between interprofessional staff."