FAIRFAX, Va., Oct. 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Kathleen M. Foley, MD,
 of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, and Perry Fine,
 MD, of the University of Utah School of Medicine, received the Josefina
 Magno Excellence in Education and Leadership Award for 2007 at the 9th
 Annual Josefina Magno Conference on Palliative Care. The award recognizes
 contributors to the advancement of palliative care, the science of pain and
 symptom management. The award and professional conference are named for the
 physician credited with pioneering the modern concept of hospice and
 palliative care in the United States in the 1970s. It is sponsored by
 Capital Hospice, which was founded by Dr. Josefina Magno as Hospice of
 Northern Virginia in 1977. The two day conference, held in Fairfax, Va.,
 concluded today.
 
     In accepting the award, Foley paid tribute to Dr. Magno, who died in
 2003. "She was the most extraordinary person in her unconditional regard
 for all who she touched," Foley said. Interestingly, in Magno's
 autobiography, "Hospice in America," Magno calls Dr. Foley her mentor.
 Foley is an attending neurologist in the Pain & Palliative Care Service at
 Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City and is a Professor
 of Neurology, Neuroscience, and Clinical Pharmacology at Weill Medical
 College of Cornell University. Her contribution with perhaps the most
 lasting impact was as Director of the Project on Death and Dying in
 America, at the Open Society Institute. PDIA's mission was to understand
 and transform the culture and experience of dying and bereavement. Over the
 course of nine years beginning in 1994, PDIA created funding initiatives in
 professional and public education, the arts, research, clinical care, and
 public policy. PDIA and its grantees have helped build and shape this
 important and growing field, and have helped place improved care for the
 dying on the public agenda.
 
     In accepting his award, Fine called Dr. Magno his inspiration since
 meeting her in the 1980s. Fine is a professor in the Department of
 Anesthesiology at the University of Utah School of Medicine, teaching
 courses in social medicine and medical ethics. He serves as faculty and
 attending physician at the university's Pain Research Center. He is widely
 published in peer-reviewed journals and has written or contributed to more
 than 40 books on pain management and end-of-life care. He currently serves
 on multiple editorial boards including the Journal of Pain (Journal of the
 American Pain Society), the Journal of Palliative Medicine (Journal of the
 American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine) and the Journal of the
 American Medical Association (JAMA).
 
     The Josefina Magno Conference Series is the largest annual educational
 event of its kind on the East Coast, attracting health care professionals
 from across the county. The theme of the 2007 conference was, "The Profound
 Nature of Pain: Strategies for Relief."
 
     Capital Hospice, organizer of the Magno series, is a nonprofit
 organization that has provided expert end-of-life care to more than 50,000
 patients and their families in the national capital region since 1977.
 Compassionate and specially-trained staff provide pain and symptom
 management as well as emotional and spiritual support to people with
 serious, progressive illness and their families in Northern Virginia,
 Washington D.C. and Prince George's County, Maryland. For more information
 about Capital Hospice, please visit www.capitalhospice.org.
 
 
 
 
 

SOURCE Capital Hospice