Liz Anderson, DSW, LCSW is Associate Research Scientist at Pacific Institute of Research and Evaluation. nestled in the rural southern Appalachian Mountains. A former hospice, palliative care and renal social worker and professor with two decades of experience, she now focuses her efforts on research to address and improve end-of-life care for American Indians and people living in rural communities. Dr. Anderson is particularly interested in helping people have a voice at the end-of-life through advance care planning, using a motivational interviewing approach.
Dr. Anderson is a 2018 Sojourns Scholar Award Recipient and the principal investigator in the research project, “Best Practices to Engage Family Members in Palliative Care for Rural Patients with Kidney Disease” and “Empathetic Goals of Care Conversations for Rural Patients with Kidney Disease via Telehealth.” She is co-PI of a National Institute of Health (NIH) R21 grant, to culturally tailor and pilot an advance care planning tool, MY WAY (Making Your Wishes about You for an American Indian tribe. Dr. Anderson trains and mentors social workers and nurses in dialysis facilities on advance care planning using motivational interviewing for a Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute project through George Washington University. She is the PI for the Center for American Indian and Alaskan Native Diabetes Translational Research Center Pilot and Feasibility study, which is examining hospice, hospitalization and advance care planning rates for American Indians using Medicare data.
Dr. Anderson a board member for the Social Work Hospice and Palliative Care Network and on the Executive Committee of the Coalition of Supportive Care of Kidney Patients. Her work was recently featured on PBS News Hour’s Brief but Spectacular https://youtu.be/MPVRf8i30gQ. Dr. Anderson has a deep respect for the voices that often are not heard, especially as they near the end of life.