Susan DeSanto-Madeya, PhD, RN, CNS
Dr. Susan DeSanto-Madeya, is a PhD-prepared, advanced practice nurse. She is an Associate Clinical Professor in the William F. Connell School of Nursing (CSON) at Boston College (BC). She teaches Palliative Care in the CSON graduate programs, and has developed and implemented the Interdisciplinary Palliative Care Certificate program, the first interdisciplinary certificate program at Boston College. In 2016, Dr. DeSanto-Madeya was selected as a Cambia Foundation Sojourns Palliative Care Scholar Leader.
Dr. DeSanto-Madeya is a patient-family centered palliative care nurse researcher. Her research is focused on improving the quality of care and quality of life outcomes for individuals living with serious illness and their family caregivers across the healthcare continuum. Her research interests and current work in palliative and end-of-life care have evolved from over 20 years of clinical experiences working with adult populations in a variety of settings from the intensive care unit to the community. Her work through direct patient/family care and research with varying populations has demonstrated that physical, psychological, social, and spiritual pain, distress, and suffering negatively influence patients’ and family’s quality of life, and that quality of life in the dying process can be enhanced through early assessment and intervention. As an educator of graduate nursing students in the palliative care specialty program and the adult-geriatric advanced practice, an advanced practice nurse with End-of-Life Nurse Educator Consortium training, and as a nurse researcher, she has focused her efforts on improving the quality of life and care for persons living with serious illness and their families across the illness continuum from diagnosis through death.