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Meet the Faculty

Mimi Pattison, MD

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Medical Degree
University of Washington, Seattle

Residency and Fellowship
University of Arizona

Board Certified
Hospice and Palliative Medicine

Dr. Pattison is a palliative medicine physician with more than two decades of clinical experience in the field. She is the medical director for Franciscan Hospice and Palliative Care. In 2008, she was appointed by Governor Christine Gregoire to the Medical Quality Assurance Commission for Washington State and served as chair between 2010 – 2012. In 2014, Dr. Pattison was selected to participate in a 32-member Alzheimer’s Disease Working Group to develop a plan for the care of persons diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and other dementias. Dr. Pattison’s medical interests include ethical issues at end of life, systems integration of palliative care, and access for persons with dementia to palliative care and hospice.

Juan C. Iregui, MD

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Medical Degree
Universidad del Rosario, Bogota, Colombia

Residency and Chief Residency
SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York

Board Certified
Hospice and Palliative Medicine

Dr. Iregui is a palliative medicine physician with more than a decade of clinical experience. He is a full-time clinician at St. Joseph Medical Center providing consultation in cancer related pain and non-pain symptom management, ethical dilemmas, and assisting patients and families making complex medical decisions and establishing goals of care. He holds a Master Degree in Bioethics from the Medical College of Wisconsin and is a member of the Virginia Mason Franciscan Health Ethics Committee.

Christine Cofer, MD

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Medical degree
University of California, San Francisco (MD), UC Berkeley School of Public Health (MS)

Internship, Residency and Fellowship
University of Washington, Seattle

Board Certified
Internal Medicine, Hospice and Palliative Medicine; Hospice Medical Director Certified (HMDC)

Dr. Cofer has been a full-time specialist in Hospice and Palliative Medicine since completing her fellowship training at UW in 2010 – the first physician to graduate from the newly created program. She has served as a consultant in Palliative Medicine at St. Clare and St. Anthony hospitals, where she helped to develop the inpatient Palliative Medicine programs in 2010-2013. Since then, she has been full time at Franciscan Hospice House, caring for hospice patients who require inpatient admission for management of severe or complicated symptoms. She provides teaching and mentorship to Internal Medicine residents and Palliative Medicine fellows.

Fransje Slothouber Giles, ARNP, DNP

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Education

Doctorate of Nursing Practice, Family Nursing Practice, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis TN

Fransje is a nurse practitioner with more than a decade of experience in caring for pediatric and adult patients facing serious and life limiting diseases. Currently her clinical time is spent assisting adult patients with management of severe symptom burden associated with terminal conditions as well as facilitating goals of care conversations to guide ongoing care for patients both in acute and comfort focused care settings. She has a special interest in improving communication across the continuum of care and amongst the interdisciplinary healthcare team to facilitate high quality care tailored to each individual patient’s unique needs.

David E. Weissman, MD; Advanced Communication Academy Advisor

Dr. Weissman, a national leader in the field of Palliative Care, has advised and consulted the Franciscan Advanced Communication Academy team in developing the program and its curriculum. Dr. Weissman is a professor emeritus and founder of the Medical College of Wisconsin Palliative Care Center. In 1991 he began one of the first hospital-based palliative care programs in the U.S. In 2003, the Medical College of Wisconsin’s Palliative Care Program was designated as one of six Palliative Care Leadership Centers in the country by the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC). Dr. Weissman now serves as a full-time consultant to the CAPC. He authored a series of articles on standards and metrics for palliative care programs; is the designer of the CAPC E-Learning platform and is co-director of CAPC’s Improving Palliative Care in the ICU, Emergency Department and Outpatient projects.

Dr. Weissman currently serves as an advisor and consultant to the Franciscan Advanced Communication Academy.

Contact us

Note

The Advanced Communication Academy is aimed at training physicians and mid-level clinicians. If you are a health care professional such as a nurse, social worker or case manager and you are interested in attending a session, please do not register until you have communicated with Marilyn Pattison at the email address below.

For more information please email Marilyn Pattison at: [email protected].