Sandra L. Bertman, Ed.M., L.C.S.W., Ph.D.
Distinguished Professor Thanatology and Arts
National Center for Death Education
Mount Ida College, Newton, Massachusetts
Editor Since 1995
Sandra L. Bertman, founding Director of the Medical Humanities Program at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, is a clinician who has pioneered the use of the arts and humanities to help healthcare professionals understand the psychology of loss and the existential and spiritual concerns of patients, family members, and themselves. She received the 1989 American Journal of Hospice Care's award for extending her classroom and counseling techniques to patients, families, and staff in hospice, hospital and other therapeutic settings, and was named the "Outstanding Death Educator" by the Association of Death Education and Counseling. Most recently (2001) she was honored by the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine for her outstanding contributions in the integration of humanities and arts into end of life care. Her publication and media credits include the books Facing Death Images, Insights and Interventions (1991) and Grief and the Healing Arts: Creativity as Therapy (1999); the film, Dying (1974); the video documentary Harbor of Hope (1993); and the UPI award winning radio show, Sing a Song of Dying (1971). She has recently lectured in Africa and Australia on aging and the ageless spirit, the changing images of HIV/AIDS, diversity issues, and expressive therapies.
Home Page: http://www.sandrabertman.com
Editor’s Choices
Guernica by Pablo Picasso
Ikiru directed by Akira Kurosawa
Illness and Healing: Images of Cancer by Robert Pope
The Life and Art of Elizabeth "Grandma" Layton by Don Lampert, Elizabeth Layton
Trials, Tribulations, and Celebrations: African American Perspectives on Health, Illness, Aging and by M. G. & Nixon, L. L., eds. Secundy