Several social workers have recently received national recognition for their leadership in hospice and palliative care.

Tracy Schroepfer, associate professor and director for the part-time MSW program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Social Work, was selected earlier this year to serve on the steering committee of the National Quality Forum’s Palliative Care and End-of-Life Care Project.

The committee will identify and endorse measures for public reporting and quality improvement for those receiving palliative care and end-of-life care services.

NASW and the National Coalition for Hospice and Palliative Care nominated Schroepfer for the position. In a letter to NQF, NASW Executive Director Elizabeth J. Clark said Schroepfer would bring expertise to the steering committee as her areas of interest and research are related to examining the psychosocial and spiritual needs of terminally ill elders and addressing health disparities in cancer care.

Schroepfer also serves on the board of directors for the Social Work Hospice & Palliative Care Network.

Another social worker received a prestigious research honor at the end-of-life/palliative care research summit sponsored by the National Institute of Nursing Research in August. Debra Parker Oliver, associate professor for Family and Community Medicine at the University of Missouri, garnered a third-place research award for her poster presentation, “Preliminary Results of the ACTIVE (Assessing Caregivers for Team Intervention via Video Encounters) Randomized Trial.”

Chris Herman, an NASW senior practice associate who attended the summit, said Oliver’s presentation was among the top three scientific abstracts selected by representatives of institutes across the National Institutes of Health and honored by NINR Director Patricia A. Grady.