The Consulting Team

The HealthCare Chaplaincy Consulting Service is composed solely of experienced leaders in the professional pastoral care field who have worked in all major areas of the country, in institutions small and large, religious and secular, for profit and non-profit, academic and community oriented.

The Rev. George Handzo (Lutheran), Vice President, Pastoral Care Leadership & Practice, The HealthCare Chaplaincy, leads the consultation team and every planning project. Rev. Handzo has more than twenty-five years experience as a healthcare chaplain and pastoral care administrator, including over twenty years as Director of Chaplaincy Services at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. He is nationally known as a leader in professional pastoral care and an authority on promoting best practices and quality in the field. He has authored or co-authored more than thirty articles and one book in pastoral care. Rev. Handzo is a past president of the Association of Professional Chaplains (APC).

Dr. Kevin Flannelly, Associate Director of Research, The HealthCare Chaplaincy, has published more than 150 scientific studies and professional papers in various area of psychology. He has been actively involved in research on pastoral care, spirituality and health since 1996, and has published more than 50 articles in this field. He also has written a number of critiques about the methodological quality of research on religion and health, the most recent of which appeared in the Southern Medical Journal.

The Rev. A. Meigs Ross (Episcopal), Director of Clinical Pastoral Education, The HealthCare Chaplaincy, oversees its efforts in clinical pastoral education. She is a certified clinical pastoral educator with the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education and has extensive experience in education, health care chaplaincy and pastoral care administration. She developed and revitalized two pastoral care and education departments as well as the ACPE accreditation process at each site, in recent years. Rev. Ross is also a national workshop leader on pastoral care, pastoral education and systems oriented theory.

The Rev. Jerry Griffin (Disciples of Christ) successfully built and directed two pastoral care departments at Corning Hospital in New York and Lee Memorial Health System in southern Florida. He is a past president of the College of Chaplains (now APC) and is well known and regarded as a national leader in the field. He is currently a member of the APC Commission on Advocacy, where he is focusing on exposing hospitals that do not have pastoral care departments to the benefits of spiritual care. He is a clear thinker who pays attention to the local context in developing state of the art pastoral care departments.

The Rev. Denise Haines (Episcopal) The Rev. Haines has more than twenty-five years experience as an ACPE supervisor, health care chaplain and pastoral care administrator. She is nationally known as a leader in the clinical pastoral education movement, has been a regional director, served on ACPE’s national committees, and authored numerous articles on pastoral care and pastoral care education. She most recently served as the Director of Education and Community Outreach at The HealthCare Chaplaincy supervising fifteen CPE supervisors in ten CPE programs. She oversaw the ten-year accreditation site visit of The HealthCare Chaplaincy’s extensive CPE program.

The Rev. Elaine Lehr (Baptist) is currently the Director of Pastoral Care at Alexandria Hospital in Virginia. She brings over fifteen years experience building successful pastoral care departments in small and medium-sized hospitals, including NorthBay HealthCare and Mercy Hospital in California. In the latter, she was the first non-Catholic to direct pastoral care. She was the first woman to be president of the College of Chaplains (now APC) and currently serves on the APC Finance Committee. She is a Baptist from South Carolina who understands the culture of smaller local hospitals.

The Rev. Dr. Stephen King (Disciples of Christ) is Director of Pastoral Care, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (initially Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center). He is an acknowledged expert in cancer chaplaincy, a well-published author with a doctorate in Religion & Personality from Vanderbilt University, and one of the most respected clinicians and thinkers in professional pastoral care.

The Rev. Stephen Mann (Presbyterian) remodeled the pastoral care program at Johns Hopkins Medical Center into a modern department with CPE. He had significant involvement in medical education and integrating pastoral care into a large hospital environment. As an APC Board member and the first chair of the APC Commission on Professional Ethics, he was the leader in developing the APC Code of Professional Ethics.

The Rev. Dr. Marcia Marino (United Church of Christ) directs the Metro Region pastoral care program for Aurora Health Care which includes fifteen chaplains and CPE supervisors in five Wisconsin hospitals. She brings considerable skills in integrating pastoral care into hospital systems and is an expert on quality in pastoral care. She serves as a member of the APC Commission on Quality in Pastoral Services and is a past winner of the APC Outstanding State Leader Award.

Rabbi Stephen Roberts (Jewish), currently Associate Executive Vice President, New York Board of Rabbis, is a Past President, National Association of Jewish Chaplains and an acknowledged leader in the Jewish pastoral care movement. He brings a significant background in management in the health care environment as the former Director of Pastoral Care, Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City, and in the corporate world. In addition to his rabbinic education, Rabbi Roberts holds an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

The Rev. John Simon (Baptist). With a background in accounting, Rev. Simon brings an ability to tailor pastoral care programs to contribute to an organization’s financial status as well as its mission in health care. He has built pastoral care in diverse health care settings, including The Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, and Presbyterian/St. Luke’s Medical Center (HCA), Denver. Rev. Simon is currently the founding Director of Pastoral Care at Vassar Brothers Medical Center, Poughkeepsie, NY, an HCC partner organization. Rev. Simon is a member of the APC Finance Committee.

The Rev. Dr. Dane Sommer (United Church of Christ) is Director of Chaplaincy Services, Children’s Mercy Hospital, Kansas City and Past President, Pediatric Chaplains Network. Rev. Sommer is nationally regarded as one of the leading experts in pediatric chaplaincy and is consulted often by other pediatric programs. His program is considered a leading example of how to build a successful pastoral care department.

The Rev. Susan Wintz (Presbyterian) is Staff Chaplain, St. Joseph’s Hospital (AZ) and President-Elect of the APC. She is widely acknowledged as the expert in professional pastoral care on issues of best practices and staffing. The materials she has co-authored in cultural sensitivity are considered to be industry standards and are used by hospitals nationwide. Rev. Wintz is currently on leave from the Consulting Team.

Additional senior staff will be assigned on an as-needed basis.