Volume 23, Number 9: September 2022

Meet Our New Lifetime Members

IAHPC’s tally of Lifetime Members increased by one institution and six individuals between January and June this year. Each new membership strengthens our mission and helps support the many ways we work toward our vision of a world free from health-related suffering. We are deeply thankful for each one.

All individuals were asked if they wished to introduce themselves:

Bhagyashree Barlingay, MD
Phoenix, Arizona, USA

An internist by training, I closed my hospital-based practice in Phoenix after 20 years, at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. I ventured into doing a fellowship in hospice and palliative care at University of Arizona, which I completed in June 2022. I am currently “paying my dues” by spreading the word about the need for supporting palliative care in India, through fundraising programs and telemedicine. I am also enjoying taking care of my two-year old granddaughter! I invite you to visit the website of my nonprofit organization, Akshaybhasha, whose mission is to “tie Art and Philanthropy together by raising funds through cultural activities for the preservation of the Marathi language in the USA, and sponsoring free anemia checking for women in India since 2006.” The project has benefited thousands of women living in rural areas in identifying, treating, and becoming educated about iron deficiency anemia.

Kristin Forner, MD, FAACP
Alexandria, Virginia, USA

I am the palliative care program director for MedStar Health, overseeing palliative care programs at both MedStar Southern Maryland Hospital Center and MedStar St. Mary's Hospital in the Washington, D.C. area. I completed my fellowship at San Diego Hospice and the Institute for Palliative Medicine in 2013 and have practiced palliative care with the University of California at San Diego in San Diego, California, with Mission Health at Mission Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina, and now with MedStar. I have a unique background as a board-certified anesthesiologist, but while practicing anesthesia I missed interacting and developing relationships with my patients and their families: I wanted to have a deeper impact in their lives, which drew me into the field of palliative care. I believe in pushing the needle, and I think there is incredible potential within our field to care for patients with life-limiting illnesses all over the world.

Editor’s note: Kristin has a website, Mending the Fractured Story, that shares her personal stories—remembrances, experiences, and reflections—often involving patients at the bedside and the operating room.

Kristine Kowalski, RN, BSN (Nursing), PHN, MA (Operational Art and Science), CHPCA, MBA
Mission Viejo, California, USA

I began my career in the US Air Force as a flight nurse and executive officer before retiring after 28 years of service. I then pivoted to palliative care, becoming a director at several hospices in Southern California before settling in at my current job as administrator of palliative care at Mission Hospital in California. I recently advanced my leadership skills by obtaining a Master of Business Administration. I am a consultant for Elite Medical Experts, past president of the board for the California Hospice and Palliative Care Association, and had a pivotal role in establishing both federal and state hospice regulations. I am currently working to create palliative care regulations in partnership with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and US Department of Health and Human Services.

We are also welcoming:

Ahsan Aswar, MBBS, MD, FACP, HMDC, FAAHPM, is an assistant professor in the Department of Palliative, Rehabilitation, and Integrative Medicine at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, USA.

Ashwini Davray, MBBS, FRACP, is a consultant in palliative medicine at the Hollywood Medical Centre in Nedlands, Western Australia.

Mirza Jacqueline Alcalde Castro is a clinical fellow with the Department of Psychosocial Oncology and Palliative Care at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

The new Institutional Lifetime Member is the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, based in Houston, Texas, USA. It was one of the first, and is now the largest, comprehensive cancer care center in the United States. In 2021, Newsweek ranked it as the world’s best hospital specializing in oncology. With a stated mission to “make cancer history,” it invests hundreds of millions of dollars annually in research. Its Proton Therapy Center offers “the most advanced” radiation treatment available, a beam of protons, to treat a variety of tumors. MD Anderson has expanded outside the Houston area, with locations now in several states.

List of Members

A list of individuals who joined, or renewed their membership with, IAHPC during the past month.

Membership renewals

New members

New lifetime memberships

See the full list of IAHPC members

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