Nancy McCool, LICSW, ACHP-W, APHSW-C
Lead Social Worker, Palliative Care, UMass Memorial Medical Center
Nancy McCool has an MSW in Social Work from Bridgewater State University and an advanced certificate in palliative care from Smith College. She is currently enrolled in the Zelda Foster Leadership Fellowship program at New York University. She teaches a grief and bereavement course in the Jewell Scholars Program at the UMass Medical Center and lectures on bereavement for a course on palliative care at the UMass Medical School Graduate School of Nursing. Nancy is also a member of the UMass Memorial Medical Center Schwartz Rounds Committee. She is pioneering a wellness program for the palliative care team utilizing Stress First Aid and the Buddy System.
Nancy brings her experience, compassion and listening skills learned working as a therapist for patients with serious mental illness and substance use disorder and counseling female prisoners to her advocacy for her patients. She is passionate about palliative care and is working with her palliative care team colleagues to develop a program for teaching primary palliative care skills to health social workers using the Serious Illness Conversation Guide.