Cathleen Fanslow, MA, RN, is an internationally acclaimed expert in the fields of death, dying, grief, nursing, and hospice care who developed the "Standards of Care for the Dying Patient," which is used throughout the U.S. Veterans' Administration Hospital System. An acclaimed pioneer in the field of hospice, she created the Hospice Program for New York's Visiting Nurse Service and the first free-standing hospice in Switzerland, worked at the first certified hospice in Long Island, and was director of nursing at Calvary Hospital in New York, considered by many to be the first hospice in the United States. She is the recipient of the National Hospice Organization's President's Award, the Award for Excellence from the National Hospice Association, the Healer of the Year Award for outstanding achievement in the field of healing from the Nurse Healers Professional Associates, and an award from the New York State Hospice Organization in recognition of extraordinary service to the New York Hospice movement. She lives in Langley, Washington.