JoAnne is a registered nurse, certified in hospice/palliative pediatric nursing, who has dedicated the heart of her career to gentling the journey for the child at life’s end. She serves the patients and families at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego (RCHSD) as the Supportive Care RN Coordinator. The parent of a childhood cancer survivor herself, she has rare insight into the burdens shouldered by families when a child is sick. She has walked alongside hundreds of families on their journeys through serious illness, on the paths to both survivorship and bereavement.

She has authored a handbook for parents facing end-of-life issues, When Every Moment Counts, as well as a chapter in Conversations in Neonatal and Pediatric Palliative Care, Palliative Care for the Child with Cancer, a Hospice & Palliative Nurse Association publication. She is a Caritas Nurse Coach through the Watson Caring Science Institute which focuses on the return of caring to the practice of health care, and has authored a chapter in the book, Miracles, edited by Dr. Watson.

JoAnne was recognized with the Daisy Award which celebrates kindness and compassion in nursing. She has been honored by the Project on Death in America and the Hospice & Palliative Nurse Foundation with their National Nursing Leadership Award. She has been awarded both the RHCSD Nurse of Excellence award and the Southern California Association of Pediatric Hematology Oncology Nurses (SCAPHON) Nurse of Excellence award.

Her professional memberships include the Hospice & Palliative Nurses’ Association, the American Association of Critical Care Nurses, and the Association for Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Nurses. JoAnne believes that healing occurs on many levels, and that care is always possible, even when cure is not.