SCHOLAR DIRECTORY

Kathie Kobler, MS, APN, PCNS-BC, CHPPN, serves as the advance practice nurse leader of the perinatal and pediatric palliative care programs at Advocate Children’s Hospital Park Ridge, IL campus. She has been caring for medically fragile and dying infants and children since 1985. Kathie speaks and writes professionally on perinatal/pediatric palliative care and bereavement issues. Along with Dr. Rana Limbo, she is co-author of the 2013 book, “Meaningful Moments: Ritual and Reflection When a Child Dies.” Kathie is interested in investigating and identifying components of ritual most beneficial to bereaved parents. Her current, fully funded, qualitative research study is to understand bereaved parents’ experience of a hospital memorial service. She also wishes to learn how ritual may address the personal suffering experienced by nurses caring for dying children. Kathie works on a national level to promote the growth of perinatal and pediatric palliative care, She is a national faculty member for RTS Bereavement Services (perinatal/neonatal bereavement education). She is currently serving as 2014 President of the National Board for Certification of Hospice and Palliative Care Nurses. She is the 2014 Co-Chair of the National Pediatric Hospice & Palliative Care Collaborative. Kathie hopes to continue contributing to the field of perinatal/pediatric palliative care through deepening her knowledge of nursing science. She hopes to continue to engage in research and education, with the goal of improving care for children with serious illness, and their families.