PUBLIC HEALTH PALLIATIVE CARE INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL
Executive Members
President – Prof Luc Deliens (Belgium)
Vice President - Dr Kerrie Noonan (Australia)
Treasurer – Dr Emma Hodges (UK)
General Secretary - Dr Bert Quintiens (Belgium)
Membership Secretary – Saif Mohammed (India)
General Council Members
Elizabeth Johnson (USA)
Dr Esther Nafula (Kenya)
Dr Max Kleijberg (Sweden)
Farah Demachkieh (Lebanon)
Associate Professor Jason Mills (Australia)
Dr Louise D’Eer (Belgium)
Prof Samar Aoun (Australia)
Dr Tania Pastrana (Colombia)
Co-opted
Bonnie Tompkins (Canada)
Dr Daniel Lowrie (Australia)
Ex officio members
Journal Representative - A/Prof Libby Sallnow
WHPCA Representative - Dr Stephen Connor
EAPC PHPC Representative - Dr Steven Vanderstichelen
IAHPC Representative - Natalie Greaves
Executive Members
prof luc deliens - President
Luc Deliens has a background in sociology and is a professor in palliative care research at the VUB Brussels and Ghent University in Belgium, and founding director of the VUB Brussels & Ghent University based interdisciplinary End-of-Life Care Research Group (EOLC). With over 50 researchers this EOLC group is one of the largest multidisciplinary research teams in the domain of palliative care in Europe. He is co-chairing the Reference Group on Public Health Palliative Care of the European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC) in Europe. Luc is also the Associate-Editor of our journal Palliative Care & Social Practice. In 2022, he organized with his team also the PHPCI7 international conference in Bruges, Belgium.
DR Kerrie Noonan - Vice President
Dr Kerrie Noonan is a clinical psychologist and social researcher. She is the director of The Death Literacy Institute and Director of Research at Western NSW Local Health District. She holds several appointments, including an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Public Health Palliative Care Unit at La Trobe University and an Adjunct Research Fellow at the School of Psychology, Western Sydney University. She is a co-author of the Death Literacy Index and has contributes to compassionate communities and death literacy work nationally and internationally. Kerrie has served on the council since 2015 and was the co-chair of the PHPC International conference in 2019 in the Blue Mountains, Australia.
Dr Emma Hodges - Treasurer
Dr Bert Quintiens - General secretary
Dr Bert Quintiens has a background in nursing and has worked for several years as both a nurse and a clinical trial coordinator. He has a PhD in social health sciences. His research revolved around the development and evaluation of two Compassionate Cities.
He is a postdoc researcher, coordinator at the Compassionate Communities Centre of Expertise (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) and general secretary at Public Health Palliative Care International. He coordinates learning networks on Compassionate Communities & Compassionate Schools.
Saif Mohammed - Membership Secretary
Saif Mohammed is the first State Project Manager for Palliative Care in Kerala under the National Health Mission. He spearheaded primary palliative care programs, empowered Local Self-Governments, and facilitated specialized care in secondary and tertiary hospitals. Saif played a key role in formulating the Palliative Care Policy for the Government of Kerala and served as State Coordinator for the Palliative Care program under the Additional Skill Acquisition Program. Currently, Saif is a consultant and faculty member at the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre, Institute of Palliative Medicine. He leads capacity development workshops for governments and organizations in low- and middle-income countries. As a faculty member of the global fellowship program by IPM WHOCC and St. Christopher's Hospice, he shares his expertise with global participants. Saif is also actively involved in the International Program for developing Bereavement Companions, in collaboration with the Death Literacy Institute, Australia, and the Institute of Palliative Medicine.
General Council Members
Bonnie Tompkins (canada)
Bonnie Tompkins holds a Bachelor of Public Health specialising in Palliative Care. She works at Pallium Canada as the Compassionate Communities National Lead focusing on mobilising Compassionate Communities (CC) across Canada. She has lead two compassionate community initiative in Burlington and Niagara West Ontario, Canada. She sits on the steering committee for the Ontario Caregivers Coalition, contributor to CancerandWork.ca, piloting undergrad certification regarding the palliative care approach and CC with Brock University, and collaborates with colleagues around the world. Her interest in palliative care developed through personal experiences as a caregiver to her late partner who died while completing her BPH.
dr Daniel Lowrie - (Australia)
Daniel Lowrie is an occupational therapist with a clinical background in cancer care and palliative care. Daniel is a Senior Lecturer in Occupational Therapy at James Cook University in Queensland, Australia. Daniel’s Masters research explored patient empowerment in cancer palliative care and his PhD study examined the process of role change and associated shifts in role relations at end of life. He also has experience in the design and delivery of undergraduate and postgraduate Allied Health education concerning end-of-life care.
Elizabeth Johnson (USA)
Elizabeth Johnson has a master's degree in Community and Urban Planning. Her professional work has taken her around the globe, awakening a fascination with the cultural and social contexts which shape human understandings of illness and death. She is the co-founder and Executive Director of The Peaceful Presence Project, a community based organization in Oregon, USA. The nonprofit’s mission is to reimagine and transform the way communities talk about, plan for and experience the last stage of life. As an end-of-life doula and educator, she provides trainings to improve community and profession-based death and grief literacy. She also facilitates proactive planning support for advanced illness care, as well as compassionate bedside presence for people navigating a terminal illness. She is a graduate of the 2-year ‘Anamcara Project,’ with a focus on the spirituality of grief and loss. She is a certified ACP educator for the Institute on HealthCare Directives, a certified pregnancy loss group facilitator, and a member of the Coalition to Transform Advanced Illness Care.
Esther Nafula (kenya)
Esther Nafula is a palliative medicine physician based at Kenyatta National Hospital, Kenya where she leads a palliative care team that is dedicated to improving patient care in hospitals and at home. She has over thirteen years of experience in diverse settings, including rural, community, and urban environments. She has worked in both the government and private sectors. In addition to her clinical work, she holds several leadership roles, years of teaching experience in pain management and palliative care with commitment to education and mentorship. She also plays an active role in policy and guideline development, striving to advance evidence-based care. She focuses on patient outcomes and team excellence has significantly impacted the lives of patients and their families, ensuring access to high-quality palliative care.
Max Kleijberg (Sweden)
Max Kleijberg (Sweden) is a university lecturer at Mälardalens University, affiliated researcher at Karolinska Institutet, and process leader for equity in cancer care at the Regional Cancer Centre Stockholm-Gotland. He has a background in design and healthcare science with a PhD from Karolinska Institutet. His research takes a transdisciplinary approach to health equity and health promotion in relation to aging, severe illness, and the end-of-life. Through participatory action research and design methods, he partners with community and healthcare stakeholders to collaboratively develop knowledge and create meaningful change. He leads several research projects, including research addressing cancer disparities, and LGBTQ+ perspectives on aging, severe illness, and the end-of-life.
Farah Demachkieh (Lebanon)
Farah Demachkieh is a nurse, a public health professional and a researcher. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and a master’s in public health from the American University of Beirut. She has been the head of quality, research, and development unit at SANAD the first home hospice organization in Lebanon since 2018. Her work focuses on quality assurance and improvement, training, service development, awareness raising, advocacy and research. She spearheaded several needs assessment and service development projects in limited resource settings. She is involved in several initiatives that aim at advancing palliative care policy and palliative care nursing at a national level. She is a board member and the vice president of the first palliative care nursing association in Lebanon, a member of the National Cancer Plan advisory group and of the WHO EMRO working group. She completed an online palliative care fellowship program by the Institute of Palliative Medicine Kerala and St Christopher Hospice in 2021 and has been a mentor since then. Her current research work focuses on grief and palliative care in humanitarian settings. She is passionate about advancing palliative care nursing, community empowerment and compassionate communities.
Associate Professor Jason Mills (Australia)
Jason Mills is a Registered Nurse and Associate Professor of Palliative and End of Life Care at the Flinders University Research Centre for Palliative Care, Death and Dying (RePaDD). His role as Academic Lead (palliative and end-of-life care) encompasses research postgraduate education, and higher-degree reseach supervision. Jason believes strongly that care for those living with dying, loss and grief has always been core to the social fabric of societies across the world. This has been his motivation to be an active part of the public health palliative care movement from its early beginnings, working with - and learning from, the pioneers of health promoting palliative care, helping to form the first national compassionate communities network across Australia. Jason serves as Chair of the Australian College of Nursing’s national End of Life Care Faculty and as Editor-in-Chief, Progress in Palliative Care. He is also an Editorial Board member of Palliative Care and Social Practice.
Dr Louise D’Eer
Louise D’Eer is a postdoctoral researcher at the End-of-Life Care Research Group at Ghent University. During her PhD, she focused on the development and evaluation of Compassionate Communities in Flanders, working closely with local stakeholders — from residents to civil society organisations and policymakers. She currently leads the monitoring and evaluation of the palliative care reform in Flanders in collaboration with the Flemish government, further deepening her expertise in complex evaluation research.
Prof Samar Aoun (Australia)
Prof Samar Aoun AM is Perron Institute Research Chair in Palliative Care at the University of Western Australia and Perron Institute, co-founder and chair of South-West Compassionate Communities Network and Compassionate Communities Australia and immediate past chair of MND Australia and MNDAWA. She is an international leader in the promotion and advocacy of public health approaches to palliative care and led this approach for those living with grief, informing policy and practice at the national and international levels. She is a member of the Council of Public Health Palliative Care International and the Public Health Palliative Care reference group of the EAPC. Among her awards: Centenary Medal in 2003 from Prime Minister of Australia; 2018 Medal for Excellence from European Society for Person Centred Healthcare; 2023 WA Australian of the year; 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award from MND Australia and Member of the Order of Australia (AM), Australia Day Honours 2025.
Dr Tania Pastrana (Colombia)
Tania Pastrana is a physician from Colombia. In Germany, she pursued studies in sociology, social anthropology, and social psychology, and earned a doctorate in medical anthropology and psychosomatic. She also holds master’s degree in community health and medical education. She currently hold sa full-time, tenured academic position in Global Palliative Care at the Department of Palliative Medicine, Uniklinik RWTH Aachen.
Her work focuses on strengthening palliative care systems through international collaboration. Her research explores global palliative care development, including analyses of place of death, unmet needs, and disparities in access to essential medicines.
Ex officio members
A/Prof Libby Sallnow - JOURNAL REP (Palliative Care & Social Practice)
Dr Libby Sallnow is a palliative medicine consultant with CNWL NHS Trust in London, UK and an honorary senior lecturer at St Christopher's Hospice and the UCL Marie Curie Palliative Care Research Department, UK. She has helped lead and develop the fields of new public health approaches to end of life care, compassionate communities and social approaches to death, dying and loss over the past two decades in the UK and internationally. Her PhD explored the translation of a model of compassionate communities from Kerala, India to London, UK. She has published over 25 articles and book chapters in these fields and co-edited the book "International perspectives on public health and palliative care" in 2011. She is an Honorary Consultant at the WHO Collaborating Centre for Palliative Care in Kerala, India, Vice President of Public Health Palliative Care International, the President of the Palliative Care Section of the Royal Society of Medicine, UK, a post-doc researcher at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Belgium and the first author of the new Lancet Commission on the Value of death: bringing death back into life (2022). She is the co-editor in chief of the journal Palliative Care and Social Practice.
Dr Stephen connor - WHPCA REPRESENTATIVE
Dr Stephen Connor, PhD is Executive Director of the Worldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance with 500 organizational members in 103 countries. He has worked in the hospice/palliative care movement since 1975 as an association and hospice executive, researcher, advocate, educator, consultant, licensed as a clinical health psychologist with over 20 years of clinical experience. He is a WHO Consultant and serves on multiple boards and WHO Working Groups. Dr. Connor has over 190 peer reviewed publications and is author/editor of six books on palliative care including Hospice & Palliative Care: The essential guide, 3rd Ed (2018) and the Global Atlas of Palliative Care jointly published with WHO (2014 & 2020).
Steven Vanderstichelen - EAPC PHPC Representative
Steven Vanderstichelen (MSc, PhD) is the research coordinator of the Compassionate Communities center of expertise (COCO), FWO senior postdoctoral fellow working at the End-of-Life Care Research Group at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) & Ghent University, and Secretary and Steering Committee Member of the European Association for Palliative Care’s Reference Group on Public Health and Palliative Care.
He obtained his Master’s degree in Sociology at Ghent University in 2014 and obtained his PhD in Social Health Sciences in 2019. His main research interests are public health approaches to palliative care, volunteering in end-of-life care, compassionate communities, schools and workplaces, and death literacy.
DR. Natalie Greaves - IAHPC Representative
Natalie Greaves MBBS, PhD is a tenured Lecturer in public health and Coordinator of the MPhil/PhD program in public health and epidemiology at The University of the West Indies’ Cave Hill Campus in Barbados. Natalie has devoted much of her career to advocating for the development of palliative care services and education in the Caribbean. She has led various scientific advisory and palliative care development initiatives on the island of Barbados and currently teaches theoretical principles in palliative care and research methods at both the postgraduate and post-graduate levels. She was a founding director of Barbados’ national palliative care association and in 2016 and received a Commitment to Excellence Award granted by the University of Southern Caribbean-Barbados in recognition of her work in palliative care. Natalie is a steering committee member of the Caribbean Palliative Care Association and board member of the International Association of Hospice and Palliative Care (2023-present).