Charlene Doria-Ortiz

Charlene Doria-Ortiz serves as Executive Director for the Center for Health Policy Development, Inc. (CHPD), a private, non-profit health advocacy agency serving Hispanics in the Southwest. She has over 30 years experience in health and human services programs, including designing a systematic and comprehensive approach to training and technical assistance. She has particular expertise in substance abuse, HIV/AIDS, cultural concepts in curriculum development, resource sharing, and organizational development with a primary emphasis on services to Hispanics of the Southwest. She has also provided consultation to state and federal agencies, including the design of culturally-based health prevention models and training designs, network and coalition building, and group facilitation, to name a few.

As Executive Director she is responsible for the administrative oversight of two federal and other privately funded health professions development and prevention projects. In 1990, Ms. Doria-Ortiz provided testimony to the Congress of the United States, Subcommittee on Legislation and National Security of the House of Representatives on "Hispanics in the Southwest and Substance Abuse Prevention," in Washington, D.C. In 1993, she also provided written and oral testimony to the National Task Force on Health Care Reform entitled "Mexican American and Other Latinos in the United States: Unique Families in Need of a Quality Health Care Delivery System."

Her publications include "Implementing a Service Delivery System for Hispanic Women, Meeting the Alcohol Service Needs of Hispanic Women, which she co-authored along with Dr. Sally J. Andrade and Dr. Carmen Carrillo.

In honor of her achievements on work performed, she has received awards such as the "Shooting Star Award" - presented at the Latinas Leading In Prevention Conference, by LARASA, Denver, Co., for providing leadership within field of substance abuse, July 1995, and the H. Bryce Brooks Award - Prevention Person of the Year, National Association of Prevention Professionals, 1979.

Among her current endeavors, Charlene Doria-Ortiz has been selected to serve as an Advisory Board Member for AVANCE's Hispanic Youth Health Assessment Project and on the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) National Advisory Council. She also serves on the National Advisory Board for National Minority AIDS Council (NMAC) and the Hispanic Women's Educational Leadership Council (ELC) on Hispanic Designers Inc. (HDI).

Alexander Fiuza

Alexander Fiuza is the Director of Community Services for Catholic Hospice in Miami, Florida. He earned his B.A. in Communication Arts from St. Thomas University, specializing in Public Relations, Marketing, Advertising, and Broadcast Journalism, with a minor in News Reporting and Humanities. He also received his Master of Science in Management (M.S.M.) and Master of Science in Public Management (M.P.M.) degrees from St. Thomas University, and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Psychology from Kennedy Western University.

Mr. Fiuza has been a Public Assistance Specialist with the Florida Department of Children and Families, focusing on helping medically needy children; served as a financial counselor and legal administrator at Miami Children’s Hospital; and worked as a Human Services Analyst for the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA), dealing especially with the Medipass Program. As an Elderly Services case manager for Miami-Dade County, Mr. Fiuza implemented a med-waiver program providing homecare services to citizens with incapacities, and created an outreach program to benefit Alzheimer’s patients. He also helped to raise $20K for the League Against Cancer.

As Director of Community Services for Catholic Hospice, Mr. Fiuza is responsible for community outreach, fundraising, and community awareness of the hospice mission. He is the host of a weekly radio Spanish talk show, which focuses on health care issues. He has been featured in various newspaper and magazine articles discussing hospice. He has also been instrumental in arranging for several Catholic Hospice patients to be showcased on various television features, including a national news special.

Gwendolyn London, D. Min.

Gwendolyn London, D. Min., is Interim Director of the Duke Institute on Care at the End of Life. She has been involved in the field of end-of-life care since 1982 when she became a volunteer at Hospice of Washington, the first inpatient hospice facility in the United States.

Previously employed at the DC Partnership to Improve End of Life Care, Dr. London was the first Executive Director of this Robert Wood Johnson Community State Partnership organization where she directed the activities of a coalition of over 60 organizations involved in the care of the dying. A long-term advocate of improved end-of-life care, she has a strong commitment to the need for policy initiatives, public education, professional education and research in this area. In her current position, she is responsible for the development and dissemination of educational programs for both professional and non-professional audiences.

Following a 20-year tenure with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of the National Capital Area, Dr. London left to pursue a career in direct service to patients and families. She has extensive experience as a practitioner, educator and administrator and has held various positions related to the care of the dying. She has worked as a Hospice Chaplain, Hospice Bereavement Coordinator, Hospital Chaplain and Associate Minister at a 1700 member urban congregation. In each of these positions, she did extensive work with patients and families from diverse cultural backgrounds.

A graduate of Howard University School of Divinity, Dr. London is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ and specializes in the spiritual care of the dying, especially as it relates to diverse populations

Gloria Ramsey

A registered nurse and attorney, Gloria Ramsey is known for her work in bioethics; in particular, her research has focused on questions concerning end-of-life care, decisional capacity in the elderly, and legal and ethical issues for individuals and families with HIV disease and AIDS. Currently, Gloria is engaged in research to examine reasons why African Americans do and do not complete advance directives and is working with investigators from North General Hospital, The Initiative to Improve Palliative Care for African Americans, and Howard University School of Medicine to develop and implement the didactic content for EPEC-2, "Education for Healthcare Professionals on End-of-Life Care for African-Americans," a project funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Moreover, Gloria has recently been appointed director of a program funded by The Teagle Foundation, Inc. entitled, "Building Academic Capacity in Bioethics and Nursing at New York University," where she will develop a model program in bioethics in schools of nursing to strengthen bioethics education, practice, and research.

Gloria's clinical interests include ethical issues in clinical practice, ethics education and consultation, and the unique ethical and legal issues that arise in nursing practice. Gloria was the founding author of an online column for The Nursing Spectrum Career Management resource for RNs, "Ask the Experts," entitled "Law & Ethics."

In addition, she is involved in a variety of professional organizations and as a member of the American Nurses Association (ANA), she served from 1996-2001 as a member of the ANA Code of Ethics Project Task Force, reviewing and revising the Code of Ethics. She is also secretary of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities (ASBH) Nurse Affinity Group.

After graduating from Felician College, Lodi, NJ (AAS, Nursing) and Jersey City State College (BS, Nursing, the National Dean’s List), Gloria completed a JD in 1992 at Seton Hall University School of Law. In May 1996, she completed a Certificate in Bioethics and the Medical Humanities from Columbia College of Physicians & Surgeons and the Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She is currently completing her Master of Laws (LL.M) Degree in Health Law at Seton Hall University School of Law.

Prior to joining NYU, Gloria worked as a law clerk for Honorable Carol A. Ferentz, Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, Civil Part, Newark, NJ. She is a member of the Health Law Section of the New Jersey Bar Association, the New York City Bar Association Bioethics Committee, and the American Association of Nurse Attorneys. Additionally, she is a member of the Board of Directors of New Jersey Health Decisions, the New York City Long-Term Care Ethics Network and Friends and Relatives of the Institutionalized Aged.

Gloria’s publications include articles for the Journal of American Geriatric Society, Journal of Gerontological Nursing, Generations, Geriatric Nursing, American Journal of Nursing, Journal of Nursing Law and The Nursing Spectrum. In addition, recent book chapters include: "Legal and Ethical Issues Affecting Educators and Students," in Aiken, T. (Ed.) Legal and Ethical Issues In Health Occupations, Orlando, FL: W.B. Saunders Company, 2001; “Legal Aspects of Palliative Care" in Matzo, ML & Sherman, DW (Ed.) Palliative Care Nursing: Quality Care to the End of Life, NY: Springer Publishing Co., 2001; and “Legal Issues,” in Fulmer, T., et al. (Ed.) Critical Care Nursing of the Elderly, NY: Springer Publishing Co., 2001.

Edgar Rivas

Edgar Rivas is the Director of Government Affairs for the American Pain Foundation, representing the interests of people in pain. Mr. Rivas has over twenty years experience in the aging and disabilities field, servings in both policy and practitioner positions within Congress, local government and national associations. Mr. Rivas currently serves on the Boards of the American Society on Aging and the National Council on the Aging.

Formerly the Vice President for Policy with the National Hispanic Council on Aging, he worked to assure that the interests of older Latinos were considered in policy debates at the national level. As Director for Home- and Community-Based Services Policy for the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (AAHSA), he was responsible for the development of AAHSA’s national agenda for home- and community-based services. Mr. Rivas served AARP as their Senior Program Specialist for transportation issues within their Consumer Affairs Section. Prior to these, he served as: the Director of the National Eldercare Institute on Transportation; the Director of Public Policy and of the National Low Income Minority Elders Initiative for the American Society on Aging; and as the Director for Human Services Legislation and International Issues for the U. S. House Select Committee on Aging.

As a practitioner, Mr. Rivas worked as a planner and policy analyst with both the Prince George’s County (MD) Department of Aging and with the Pennsylvania Department of Aging. His early years were spent working with adolescent and adult individuals with cognitive disabilities in educational and community settings.

Mr. Rivas has advanced degrees from the University of Maryland in Public Policy Analysis and in Community Development with a Graduate Certificate in Aging. He was a Mid-Career Fellow with the University’s School of Public Affairs, and is a graduate of the National Leadership Institute on Aging, from the University of Colorado at Denver.

Sandy Chen Stokes

Ms. Stokes is a geriatric nurse specialist who is currently working as a public health nurse in Sacramento County California. Before moving from the Bay Area, Ms. Stokes focused most of her volunteer activities on end-of-life issues. In 1999, she began introducing the advance directive to the Chinese community. She promoted the use of the advance directive and other EOL issues on Chinese television, radio, newspapers, and at conferences and workshops. In 2001, she modified the California Advance Health Care Directive form to make it more appropriate for the Chinese community and translated it into Chinese. She recruited and trained Chinese volunteers in the Bay Area to administer the advance directive. In the same year, Ms. Stokes provided editorial oversight for the Chinese translation of the “Finding Our Way” series and worked with the World Journal, a national Chinese newspaper with a circulation of 350,000 to publish “FOW” in its national weekly Sunday magazine for 15 weeks. Stokes, as the 2001-2002 president of the American Cancer Society – Northern California Chinese Unit, served on the committee that designed the Quality of Life Handbook, the first EOL-related Chinese resource book ever to be published in the United States.

Earlier this year, she wrote and narrated a video on hospice and the advance directive in Mandarin for the Amitabha Buddhist Society. One thousand copies of the video are being distributed worldwide on DVD. Ms. Stokes also started a bridge project with Pathway Hospice in Mt. View, California. She helped educate the Chinese community about hospice care. She raised $20,000 for this project. The project has been so well received in the Chinese community that Pathway Hospice was one of five programs, among 70 non-profits considered, to receive the World Journal’s $5,000 award for service to the Chinese community. Ms. Stokes continues to serve as a steering committee member with the California Coalition for Compassionate Care.