About Us
Compassion makes healthcare better - one connection at a time.
At the Schwartz Center, we know that compassion has the power to save lives. Compassionate healthcare isn’t just an ideal—it’s essential for patients, families, and their care teams to thrive.
About The Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare
Our programs increase compassion in healthcare and create more meaningful connections between patients and healthcare professionals. We work with nearly 800 healthcare partners in the U.S., U.K., Ireland, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand to advance compassion for patients, care teams, and their healing relationships.
Healthcare organizations face unprecedented challenges: staffing shortages, widespread provider burnout, mounting financial pressures, and deepening health disparities. We deliver evidence-based solutions that restore purpose to healthcare work, reduce burnout, and ensure that compassion remains at the heart of healing.
Our Mission
is to partner with healthcare organizations to advance compassion for patients, care teams, and their healing relationships.
Our Vision
is to be a global leader in championing compassion for all who seek and provide healthcare.
Our Work
Patients and healthcare workers alike believe that compassion is essential to successful medical treatment, how well patients recover from illness, and even whether a patient lives or dies. With the difficulties facing healthcare, compassion matters now more than ever.
We cultivate compassion in healthcare for patients, families, teams and organizations by:
Increasing the Reach and Impact of the Schwartz Rounds® Program:
The Schwartz Rounds program gives healthcare workers dedicated time and space to discuss the emotional challenges of their jobs, which has been proven to increase their capacity for compassion and ability to provide better care for patients.
Strengthening our Community of Compassion Champions:
We offer educational, networking, and recognition opportunities to our network of healthcare professionals, organizational leaders, patients and families, donors, and other stakeholders who believe in the transformative power of compassion.
Advancing the Power of Compassion to Transform Organizations:
Using our Schwartz Compassionate Healthcare Model as a guide, we help healthcare organizations and their leaders to advance a culture of compassion.
Our History
Ken's Story
In November of 1994, Ken Schwartz was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer. During his ordeal, Ken came to realize that what matters most during an illness is the human connection between patients and their caregivers. He wrote about his experience in an article for the Boston Globe Magazine titled A Patient’s Story. In it, he writes about how “the smallest acts of kindness” make “the unbearable bearable.” His commentary has become a touchstone for the Center and readers around the world.
At the end of his life, Ken outlined an organization that would nurture compassion in healthcare, encouraging the sort of caregiver-patient relationships that made all the difference to him. He founded the Schwartz Center in 1995 – just days before his death – to ensure that all patients receive compassionate care, and all caregivers are supported in providing it.
These acts of kindness - the simple human touch from my caregivers - have made the unbearable bearable
KEN SCHWARTZ, Founder
How Your Giving Helps
Donors power our mission to bring compassion to healthcare nationwide. Your contributions -- whether through annual giving, corporate partnerships, or foundation grants -- directly fund the programs that transform how healthcare workers care for patients and each other. From helping the Schwartz Rounds® program reach new organizations to building resources to support caregiver well-being, every gift advances compassionate care where it's needed most.
During Fiscal Year 2024, 78% of all spending was directed to mission-specific programming.* Fundraising and administrative costs represent the remainder. Strategic investments in programs resulted in an expected $800k loss in Fiscal Year 2024.
*Industry benchmarks suggest that at least 70% of funds raised directly support mission-focused programs.
Our Leadership
We are fortunate to have an experienced, skilled and diverse leadership committed to the work of the Schwartz Center and ensuring the compassionate experience in healthcare.
Board Members
Ellen R. Cohen, MSW
Officer
Jean-Paul A. Rebillard
Officer
Robyn Begley, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN
Officer
Ethan Crain
Officer
Michael L. Blau
Board Member
William T. Curry Jr., MD
Board Member
Melissa A. Fitzpatrick, MSN, RN, FAAN
Board Member
Graham Gardner, MD, MBA
Board Member
Ann-Ellen Hornidge, Esq.
Board Member
Sharon McNally
Board Member
Reena L. Pande, MD
Board Member
Angela Patterson, DNP, FNP-BC, NEA-BC, FAANP
Board Member
Sandhya Rao, MD
Board Member
Mark E. Reynolds
Board Member
Jay Shiland
Board Member
Charlotte Yeh, MD, FACEP
Board Member
Kate Stewart
Legal Counsel
Betsy Pingree Frawley
Tony Starr
Member, Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Giovsky and Popeo
Charlie D. Baker
President, National Collegiate Athletic Association
Mimi Bartholomay, RN, MSN
Peter A. Biagetti
Member, Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Giovsky and Popeo
M. Lynn Buttolph, MD, PhD
Physician, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital
Howard Cohen
Chairman of the Board, Beacon Communities
Robert K. Coughlin
Managing Director, Life Sciences, JLL
Richard Doherty
Former President, Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts
Andrew Dreyfus
Chief Executive Officer, National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation
Rushika Fernandopulle, MD, MPP
Former Chief Innovation Officer, OneMedical
Kerry A. Flynn
Former Vice President, Chief Intellectual Property Counsel, Vertex
Beth Lown, MD
Chief Medical Officer, Emeritus, The Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare
Thomas J. Lynch Jr., MD
President and Director, Fred Hutch Cancer Center
Clare Midgley
Joyce A. Murphy
2019 Advanced Leadership Initiative Fellow, Harvard University
Britain Nicholson, MD
Former, Senior Vice President for Development, Massachusetts General Hospital
James Roosevelt, Jr.
Counsel, Verrill & Dana
Eric Schultz
Eric Schwartz, MD
Marjorie Stanzler
Rev. Judith Swahnberg
Kate Walsh
Former, Massachusetts Secretary of Health and Human Services
Stephen Weiner
Member Emeritus of Mintz
Lynn Wiatrowski
Former Managing Director, Bank of America
Daniel Wofford
Senior Consultant, 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania
Marilyn Yager
Senior Policy Advisor, Alston & Bird, LLP
Candace Young
Owner and Founder, From The Ground Up
Betsy Pingree Frawley
Tony Starr
Member, Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Giovsky and Popeo
Charlie D. Baker
President, National Collegiate Athletic Association
Mimi Bartholomay, RN, MSN
Peter A. Biagetti
Member, Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Giovsky and Popeo
M. Lynn Buttolph, MD, PhD
Physician, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital
Howard Cohen
Chairman of the Board, Beacon Communities
Robert K. Coughlin
Managing Director, Life Sciences, JLL
Richard Doherty
Former President, Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts
Andrew Dreyfus
Chief Executive Officer, National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation
Rushika Fernandopulle, MD, MPP
Former Chief Innovation Officer, OneMedical
Kerry A. Flynn
Former Vice President, Chief Intellectual Property Counsel, Vertex
Beth Lown, MD
Chief Medical Officer, Emeritus, The Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare
Thomas J. Lynch Jr., MD
President and Director, Fred Hutch Cancer Center
Clare Midgley
Joyce A. Murphy
2019 Advanced Leadership Initiative Fellow, Harvard University
Britain Nicholson, MD
Former, Senior Vice President for Development, Massachusetts General Hospital
James Roosevelt, Jr.
Counsel, Verrill & Dana
Eric Schultz
Eric Schwartz, MD
Marjorie Stanzler
Rev. Judith Swahnberg
Kate Walsh
Former, Massachusetts Secretary of Health and Human Services
Stephen Weiner
Member Emeritus of Mintz
Lynn Wiatrowski
Former Managing Director, Bank of America
Daniel Wofford
Senior Consultant, 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania
Marilyn Yager
Senior Policy Advisor, Alston & Bird, LLP
Candace Young
Owner and Founder, From The Ground Up
Betsy Pingree Frawley
Tony Starr
Member, Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Giovsky and Popeo
Charlie D. Baker
President, National Collegiate Athletic Association
Mimi Bartholomay, RN, MSN
Peter A. Biagetti
Member, Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Giovsky and Popeo
M. Lynn Buttolph, MD, PhD
Physician, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital
Howard Cohen
Chairman of the Board, Beacon Communities
Robert K. Coughlin
Managing Director, Life Sciences, JLL
Richard Doherty
Former President, Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts
Andrew Dreyfus
Chief Executive Officer, National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation
Rushika Fernandopulle, MD, MPP
Former Chief Innovation Officer, OneMedical
Kerry A. Flynn
Former Vice President, Chief Intellectual Property Counsel, Vertex
Beth Lown, MD
Chief Medical Officer, Emeritus, The Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare
Thomas J. Lynch Jr., MD
President and Director, Fred Hutch Cancer Center
Clare Midgley
Joyce A. Murphy
2019 Advanced Leadership Initiative Fellow, Harvard University
Britain Nicholson, MD
Former, Senior Vice President for Development, Massachusetts General Hospital
James Roosevelt, Jr.
Counsel, Verrill & Dana
Eric Schultz
Eric Schwartz, MD
Marjorie Stanzler
Rev. Judith Swahnberg
Kate Walsh
Former, Massachusetts Secretary of Health and Human Services
Stephen Weiner
Member Emeritus of Mintz
Lynn Wiatrowski
Former Managing Director, Bank of America
Daniel Wofford
Senior Consultant, 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania
Marilyn Yager
Senior Policy Advisor, Alston & Bird, LLP
Candace Young
Owner and Founder, From The Ground Up
Our Staff
Michael Gustafson, MD, MBA
Chief Executive Officer
Elizabeth Hickman
Chief Operating Officer
Courtney Barth
Chief Development Officer
Ethan Crain
Officer
Michael L. Blau
Board Member
William T. Curry Jr., MD
Board Member
Melissa A. Fitzpatrick, MSN, RN, FAAN
Board Member
Graham Gardner, MD, MBA
Board Member
Ann-Ellen Hornidge, Esq.
Board Member
Sharon McNally
Board Member
Reena L. Pande, MD
Board Member
Angela Patterson, DNP, FNP-BC, NEA-BC, FAANP
Board Member
Sandhya Rao, MD
Board Member
Mark E. Reynolds
Board Member
Jay Shiland
Board Member
Charlotte Yeh, MD, FACEP
Board Member
Kate Stewart
Legal Counsel
Our Strategic Partners
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