Does my Boss Care that I am Grieving? [Conf '25]

Dr. Darrell Owens, DNP is an international expert in palliative care and a certified grief therapist and counselor who has practiced at UW Medicine for 21 years. Darrell is the current Associate Medical Director for Palliative Care at the University of Washington Medical Center, Northwest Campus. He is a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine and Nursing at the University of Washington. Dr. Owens has practiced hospice and palliative care for 32 years. He is an advanced registered nurse practitioner with board certifications in Adult Health – Primary Care, Geriatrics/Gerontology – Primary Care, and Hospice/Palliative Care. He is the only nurse practitioner in the U.S. who has earned an MS in Thanatology and is certified as a thanatologist (CT) by the Association of Death Education and Counseling (ADEC). He holds a BSN from Emory University in Atlanta, an MS in Health Services Administration from St. Mary's College, and an MS in Nursing (Palliative Care CNS and two postgraduate programs, Adult Health Primary Care and Geriatrics/Gerontological Primary Care) from Seattle Pacific University. Dr. Owens also holds a Master of Science in Thanatology from Edgewood College. He earned his Doctor of Nursing Practice in Geriatrics and Palliative Care at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and is a 2002 Harvard Medical School Faculty Scholar in Palliative Care Program graduate. In 2015, the UAB Alumni Association honored him with the Joanne Barnett Award for Compassionate Care. Over the past 21 years with UW Medicine, he founded the Inpatient and Outpatient Palliative Care Services at Harborview Medical Center and Northwest Hospital in Seattle, WA. In 2011, Dr. Owens was selected as the American Academy of Nurse Practitioner’s Nurse Practitioner of the Year for the State of Washington, and in 2012 was the first nurse practitioner to receive the Cambia Health Foundation’s Sojourn Award for Excellence in Clinical Leadership in Palliative Care. In 2019, he was honored with the University of Washington Distinguished Staff Award for outstanding dedication to the University of Washington Community. In 2020, Dr. Owens was inducted into the Washington State Nurses Association Hall of Fame. In 2021, he was inducted into the American Academy of Nursing as a Fellow. In 2024, the Association of Death Education and Counseling selected him as a Fellow in Thanatology. His international work in palliative care includes teaching in Vietnam and China. Dr. Owens is an adjunct faculty member at the Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Hue, Vietnam, Department of Oncology, and a palliative care consultant for the National Cancer Hospitals in Hanoi, where he is helping to establish palliative care for oncology patients. He has published over 20 articles and chapters on various palliative care topics. Dr. Owens's research areas of interest are disenfranchised grief in nursing and death anxiety among oncologists practicing in Vietnam