The Sunflower- Palliative Care Podcasts

Join guest host Dr. Spandana Rayala as she chats with Dr. Liza Naranjo about the growth and development of pediatric palliative care fellowship programs as part of leadership training with the Sunflower network.

Join us for this first in a multi episode series about leadership in children's palliative care. Dr. Spandana Rayala chats with Dr. Krithika Rao about the Sunflower leadership project and its impact on her work.

We honour International Childhood Cancer day. Come on tour of pediatric palliative care programs in India; we visit Varanasi and speak with Dr. Pallavi Singh, and then on to Hyderabad where we spoke with Dr. Gayatri Palat to talk about pediatric oncology care in India and the growth of pediatric palliative care.

Join host Rachel in her chat with Anu Savio, a nurse from India who is passionate about increasing the training and support for nurses globally in providing pediatric palliative care.

Rachel had a chance to chat with some of the leadership at Two Worlds about what they have seen happen or change in 2025 and what they hope for in 2026! Wishing you all a happy new year. Stay tuned for more episodes in 2026

Rachel had a chat with a PhD nurse Tara, who started a palliative care movement in the small kingdom of Bhutan after witnessing untreated pain and suffering. Listen to her remarkable story of where she started and where things are going for palliative care in Bhutan

Host Rachel Neufeld sits down to chat with Dr. Fraser Black.Dr. Black works with the Palliative Outreach Resource Team (PORT) in Victoria (Canada) and is a clinical professor with the UBC Faculty of Medicine. For more than 20 years, he has supported palliative care initiatives internationally in Brazil, India, Nepal and Tanzania. Dr. Black is a former medical director at Victoria Hospice.We chat about how palliative care found him, and what he has learned working with palliative care providers and programs around the world and the relationships it has built. Learn more about his local program: https://www.equityinpalliativecare.com/portLearn more about the work Two Worlds Cancer collaboration is doing: https://twoworldscancer.ca/

Host Rachel Neufeld, speaks with Dr. Nusrat Jahan in Bangladesh, exploring her career choices, and her passion for the pediatric palliative care fellowship and what it means for her practice in the future.

Nurse Practitioner Camara van Breemen chats with Vineela Rapelli, Chief program officer at Pain Relief and Palliative Care Society in Hyderabad India. They talk about how she came to work in palliative care, and some impactful stories of why she does the work she does.

Rachel Neufeld chats with Ben Carrol, a PhD student, nurse and researcher, in this final episode of the 5 part series, exploring how trans and gender diverse nurses engage with concepts of binary gender in nursing education and practice, and how practitioners can approach their care of children and youth who identify as being a part of the 2SLGBTQ+ community.Below are some links to some of the references Ben talks about in this chat. efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.transcarebc.ca/sites/default/files/2024-03/Making_Mistakes.pdfefaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://tiontario.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Demographic-Snapshot.pdfhttp://www.soginursing.ca/https://notdecidingalone.com/https://www.nobarriershere.org/https://uofmpress.ca/books/inuit-stories-of-being-and-rebirthhttps://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/22423982.2022.2071410#abstract

Host Rachel Neufeld chats with Dr Ripu Minhas, a developmental pediatrician at St. Michael’s Hospital, Unity Health Toronto and an Associate Professor of Pediatrics. They explore how diverse sociolinguistic identities impact how information is shared and received and how it can impact care of children. NewsletterSign Up:  http://tinyurl.com/ourkidshealthWebsite: https://kidshealthnetwork.org/ LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/our-kids-health Twitter/X:https://twitter.com/Our_KidsHealth Our Chapters: https://linktr.ee/ourkidshealth

Join host Camara van Breemen in conversation with nurse, counsellor and healthcare administrator Susan Poitras as they explore Equity in Pediatric Palliative Care: Cultural humility and care considerations for Indigenous children, families and communities.Susan has worked in pediatric palliative care with patients and families as a Registered Nurse, Child Psychotherapist and Registered Clinical Counsellor in British Columbia. She has dedicated her career to the welfare of families, caregivers, and their children, grounded in ethical principles, fostering culturally safe spaces, and person- and family-centered, best-practice quality care.Susan is a BC Metis Citizen – with mixed Cree and European ancestry. Her experiences as a second-generation person working within the healthcare system has shaped her path and fueled her desire to contribute to equitable health care for Indigenous people.

In the second part of this five part series, Rachel Neufeld chats with Rachel Martens about accessing Children's palliative care in the context of disability. Rachel makes her home out in Calgary, Alberta where she spends her time with her spouse of over 20 years. She works as a knowledge broker, science communicator and storyteller. Sharing her experiences in healthcare and in the disability community to aid in the advancement of various areas of healthcare, research and policy.

Join host Rachel Neufeld  in conversation with Dr. Naheed Dosani. Dr. Dosani is a Palliative Care Physician, with the Department of Family & Community Medicine, St Michael's Hospital, Unity Health Toronto; Founder & Lead, Palliative Education And Care for the Homeless (PEACH), Inner City Health Associates; Medical Director/Health Equity Lead, Kensington Hospice/Kensington Health; Health Equity Advisor, Canadian Partnership Against Cancer; and Assistant Professor, Department of Family & Community Medicine, University of Toronto.@PedPallCareCA@twoworldscancerhttps://www.virtualhospice.ca/en_US/Main+Site+Navigation/Home/Support/Resources/Programs+and+Services/Provincial/Ontario/Local+palliative+care+programs_services/PEACH+_+Palliative+Education+and+Care+for+the+Homeless.aspx

Join host Rachel Neufeld  in conversation with Dr. Mark Stoltenberg, Medical Director of the home-based palliative care program at Massachusetts General Hospital and an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School in the United States.Rachel is one of our regular hosts, a TWCC volunteer and a nurse practitioner at Canuck Place Children's Hospice.https://doctors.massgeneralbrigham.org/specialty/Hospice%20and%20Palliative%20Care

Join Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration Director Camara van Breemen in conversation with Dr. Gayatri Palat, Professor of Palliative Medicine at Mehdi Nawaz Jung Institute of Oncology and Regional Cancer Centre in Telangana, India. Dr. Gayatri is also a founding member of the Pain and Relief Palliative Care Society in Hyderabad and TWCC's  program director in India. Camara, Director of community care and provincial outreach at Canuck Place Children's Hospice in Vancouver, Canada, is one of our regular podcast hosts.

Join Two Worlds' Camara van Breemen, a nurse practitioner at Canuck Place Children's Hospice in Vancouver, Canada, in conversation with ICPCN's Professor Julia Downing as they talk about building children's palliative care capacity globally.https://icpcn.org/

In the final episode of our series on research in Children's Palliative Care, join Rachel Neufeld, a nurse practitioner and Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration volunteer, in conversation with nursing researcher Gail Andrews, research manager at Canuck Place Children's Hospice, as they discuss translating knowledge into clinical care.

Join Rachel Neufeld as she speaks with Dr Manon Ranger, a nurse and researcher, at British Columbia Children's Hospital Research Institutes.

Host Rachel Neufeld interviews Dr. Hal Sidon from Canuck Place about experiences with research in the field of children's palliative care.

Dr Natasha Datoo speaks with Dr Krishna Sagar Sharma about his experiences developing and Implementing a National Children’s Palliative Care Training Package for doctors and nurses in Nepal

In this episode, Dr. Md Shaidur Rahman from Bangladesh reflects on his experiences in the Children's Palliative Care Leadership Program, changing the focus from curing to also holistically caring for children with serious illness.

In the 2nd of this 4 part series, Dr Natasha Datoo speaks with Roshani Laxmi Tuitui, an experienced Nurse Leader in Nepal, about her experiences learning and developing her leadership skills as she develops a national children's palliative care training program. This training program was recently featured on eHospicehttps://ehospice.com/inter_childrens_posts/development-of-national-paediatric-palliative-care-training-manual-for-doctors-and-nurses-in-nepal/

Join host Dr Natasha Datoo in this 4 part series, featuring interviews with clinicians in Children's Palliative Care Leadership Program. In this first episode, Natasha speaks with Dr. Archana Iyengar about her experiences learning and developing her leadership skills as she develops a new perinatal palliative care program in Hyderabad, India. Read more about this innovative program here https://ehospice.com/inter_childrens_posts/leadership-in-childrens-palliative-care-recent-news-from-around-the-globe/

The third episode on our series "Through a Nurses Lens", join guest host, Rachel Neufeld, a Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration Volunteer and Canuck Place Children's Hospice Nurse Practitioner, as she speaks with Melanie Hameluck, an oncology and palliative care nurse at Canuck Place and British Columbia Children's Hospital.

The second episode on our series "Through a Nurses Lens", join guest host, Rachel Neufeld, a Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration Volunteer and Canuck Place Children's Hospice Nurse Practitioner, as she speaks with Rebecca Woodward, a nurse at Canuck Place.

Building and sustaining palliative care requires strong leadership, join guest host, Chuck Russel, as he discusses leadership in Palliative Care with Dr Megan Doherty. Hear how the Children's Palliative Care Leadership Program is supporting leaders in South and Southeast Asia.

In the first episode of our 3 part series "Through a Nurses Lens", join guest host, Rachel Neufeld, a Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration Volunteer and Canuck Place Children's Hospice Nurse Practitioner, as she speaks with Rachel Schmidt, a nurse at Canuck Place.

Part 2 of Dr. Spandana Rayala's conversation with Basma Ismail, Taiba Borhamah, and Sara Zayed from the Kuwait Association for the Care of Children in Hospital (KACCH) and Bayt Abdullah Children’s Hospice (BACCH). Together KACCH and BACCH support children with serious and life-limiting conditions and their families, both during hospitalizations as well as at home and in the hospice.

Dr. Spandana Rayala speaks with Basma Ismail, Taiba Borhamah, and Sara Zayed from the Kuwait Association for the Care of Children in Hospital (KACCH) and Bayt Abdullah Children’s Hospice (BACCH). Together KACCH and BACCH support children with serious and life-limiting conditions and their families, both during hospitalizations as well as at home and in the hospice.

Dr Erin Kwolek discusses her work using Balint and other types of reflective practice to strengthen and support palliative care clinicians to prevent burnout.

Join Camara Van Breemen, as she chats with music therapist Michaela Wallis about how music can support children and their families in the setting of serious illness.

Join guest host, Rachel Neufeld, as she speaks with Senior Staff Nurse Lailatul Ferdous, a pioneering palliative care nurse from Bangladesh.

Host Spandana Rayala speaks with Megan Doherty about building capacity in children's palliative care around the world.

In this episode, listen as Max Watson, Raj Gopal, Chris Piromalli, and Megan Doherty reflect on their experiences using Project ECHO to train thousands of health providers in palliative care, focussing on those in resource-limited settings. This podcast is a co-release with MetaECHO and Hospice UK.

Palliative care nurse, Erin Das, describes her experiences developing nursing leadership programs in Kenya and in Bangladesh.

Dr Smriti Khanna describes experiences of implementing palliative care for children with a wide variety of serious illnesses at a tertiary children's hospital. The team provides comprehensive support with nurses, doctors, counsellors, psychologists, as well as a therapeutic clown and play and toy librarian.

Earlier this year at the MetaECHO Conference in New Mexico, Dr Megan Doherty was able to catch up with Dr. Rajagopal. He shared his wisdom and insights about what it takes to provide compassionate care.

Dr Mike McNeil, Director St. Jude Global Palliative Care Program, shares his insights about developing palliative care around the world.

Join host Megan Doherty at Meta-ECHO, in New Mexico, where she talks with Max Watson about the potential of Project ECHO to reach health care providers around the world with knowledge of palliative care.

Listen as Dr. Ximena Garcia reflects on how she and her team overcame obstacles to develop a pediatric palliative care team, in a resource limited setting.

Alex Daniels, an experienced palliative care nurse and education coordinator for the international children's palliative care network (ICPCN) discusses her experiences leading and teaching in palliative care.

Palliative care social worker, Sarah Allan-Wiseman discusses grief in children's palliative care and how best to support parents.

Natasha Datoo and Camara Van Breemen discuss their experiences and describe effective techniques to address a family's worries and fears when introducing palliative care into their child's care.

Host Camara Van Breemen interviews Sarah Ho about her and her family's experiences with palliative care when her son, Mitchell, received end-of-life care at Canuck Place Children's Hospice.

In this episode, Megan chats with Dr. Erin Kwolek a pediatric respirologist and palliative care physician, exploring the intersection of palliative care and respiratory medicine.

Welcome to the first episode of the Sunflower Podcast, a podcast exploring all aspects of children’s palliative care around the world. In this first episode Dr Megan Doherty chats with Dr. Natasha Datoo from Canuck Place Children's Hospice (Vancouver, Canada) about her work as a pediatric palliative care physician.