Board | Hospice & Palliative Care of Martha's Vineyard

Theresa Razmakhnin, RN, BSN,

RN Case Manager

Theresa has over 25 years of nursing experience, with the last 12 dedicated to hospice nursing. She had the distinct privilege of working at The Connecticut Hospice, Inc. in Branford, CT, the first hospice in the US, learning from staff who had been there since the beginning.

Theresa is a graduate of Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School and she earned her BSN at Fairfield University. Her career has spanned many fields of nursing, including med-surg, cardiology, and ICU.

Theresa felt called to hospice after a challenging patient and family care experience, and it’s been her passion since. She’s dedicated to educating the community about hospice and hopes to inspire the next generation of hospice nurses.

Returning to Martha’s Vineyard is a homecoming for Theresa, whose family has island roots going back generations.

Polly Brown

Board Emeritus

Polly served on the Board of Hospice & Palliative Care of Martha’s Vineyard for 12 years, including as President and in other officer roles. She was an active member of several board committees and dedicated many years to patient care volunteering, bringing both leadership and compassion to her service.

Jim Butterick, MD

Board Emeritus

Jim serves as Board Emeritus for Hospice & Palliative Care of Martha’s Vineyard. He stepped down from the Board in 2025 after more than a decade of service, including roles as President, Vice President, and Clerk. Dr. Butterick earned his medical degree from the University of Michigan Medical School and completed his residency in Ann Arbor. Jim and his wife, Pam, are year-round residents of Martha’s Vineyard and remain closely connected to the Island community and Hospice’s mission.

Donald M. Berwick, MD, MPP, FRCP

Honorary Board of Director

Former President and CEO, of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), an organization that Dr. Berwick co-founded and led for over 20 years. He is one of the nation’s leading authorities on health care quality and improvement. In July, 2010, President Obama appointed Dr. Berwick to the position of Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), a position he held until December, 2011. A pediatrician by background, Dr. Berwick has served as Clinical Professor of Pediatrics and Health Care Policy at the Harvard Medical School, Professor of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard School of Public Health, and as a member of the staffs of Boston’s Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He has also served as vice chair of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, the first “Independent Member” of the Board of Trustees of the American Hospital Association, and chair of the National Advisory Council of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. An elected member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), Dr. Berwick served two terms on the IOM’s governing Council and was a member of the IOM’s Global Health Board. He served on President Clinton’s Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Healthcare Industry. He is a recipient of numerous awards, including the 1999 Joint Commission’s Ernest Amory Codman Award, the 2002 American Hospital Association’s Award of Honor, the 2006 John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Award for Individual Achievement from the National Quality Forum and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, the 2007 William B. Graham Prize for Health Services Research, and the 2007 Heinz Award for Public Policy from the Heinz Family Foundation. In 2005, he was appointed “Honorary Knight Commander of the British Empire” by the Queen of England, the highest honor awarded by the UK to non-British subjects, in recognition of his work with the British National Health Service. Dr. Berwick is the author or co-author of over 160 scientific articles and four books.

Michael D Wertheimer, MD, FACS

Michael is retired from a long career in academic surgery including clinical roles as an Emeritus Director, Breast Cancer Center, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and a Founder/Emeritus Director, Cambridge Breast Center. He is also Emeritus Chief of Surgery for Cambridge Health Alliance in Cambridge. He has been an Associate Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School since 2009 and an Adjunct Professor of Surgery at the University of Massachusetts since 2005. He has held numerous administrative and leadership positions during his long career in surgery and medicine. He and his wife are part-time residents of Martha’s Vineyard where he is an honorary staff member at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital.

Risë Terney

Risë is a retired attorney who spent most of her legal career in nonprofit legal services. She has been on the Hospice Board of Directors since 2020 and also sits on the board of several Vineyard nonprofits and the West Tisbury Affordable Housing Committee. Risë and her husband moved from Chicago to live in West Tisbury as year-round residents in 2009 after spending summers since the mid-1980s in Chilmark. They have six children, two of whom live on the Vineyard.

Phyllis N. Segal, JD

Phyllis is an Impact Fellow with CoGenerate, a non-profit organization that brings older and younger changemakers together. She began this “encore” stage of work after her decades-long career as a lawyer. She served in the Obama administration on the Board of the Corporation for National and Community Service (“Americorps”), in the Clinton administration as Chair of the Federal Labor Relations Authority, and in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as Deputy Attorney General and General Counsel to the Secretary of Transportation and Construction. She founded the Segal Citizen Leadership program at Brandeis University. Phyllis has devoted many years to service with non-profit organizations, including the Brady Campaign to PreventGun Violence (Board Chair), NOW Legal Defenseand Education Fund (Legal Director and Board Chair), the Conversation Project (Board Member), and the PlannedParenthood League of Massachusetts (Trustee). She currently serves as a senior advisor with Ace MV. Phyllis Lives in West Tisbury.

Nick Sarno, MBA

Nick is a healthcare executive and currently, a Key Account Executive at Google where he’s worked since 2021. Prior to joining Google, Nick developed complex consulting and software solutions to assist companies in the healthcare industry in transforming their business. Nick is a graduate of Boston College, attended the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and received an MBA at the Kogod School of Business at American University. He is the son of a former Board of Directors’ member and has embraced his father’s passion for hospice. He lives in Fairfield, Connecticut with his wife and children and spends time on Martha’s Vineyard at his family’s home.

Debbie Phillips

Debbie is a pioneer in the field of executive and life coaching and the founder of Women on Fire®, a community she launched in 2003 to provide inspiration, strategies and support for women’s successes. In 2024-25, she served as a leadership coach at The White House in the Executive Office of President Joe Biden. She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from The Ohio State University and a master’s degree in public administration from The Kennedy School at Harvard University. A lifelong advocate of grief counseling and hospice care, she worked hand-in-hand with the Martha’s Vineyard Hospice and Palliative Care team after her husband Rob Berkley was diagnosed with gastric cancer and died in 2018. She married Dr. Jim Murrin in 2026 and they live in the Washington, DC area.

Timothy J. Lowe

Tim is a vice president and residential mortgage officer with the Martha’s Vineyard Bank (MVB), a position he’s held since 2001. He is one of the Bank’s and Dukes County’s top lenders. He has spent his entire professional community banking career here on the Island since 1985. Tim was a multi-generational seasonal resident on the Campground until he moved here, permanently, in 1985. He is a passionate community volunteer who has served organizations such as the Martha’s Vineyard Boy’s and Girl’s Club, Martha’s Vineyard Chamber of Commerce, Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School’s Athletics Department, Red Stocking Fund and other community groups. He is a 1985 Cum-Laude Graduate of Fitchburg State College’s Business School and a year-round resident of Oak Bluffs..

Hans Klingemann, MD, PhD, FCACB

Hans is an Oncologist who directed Cancer Departments at Universities in Germany, RUSH / Chicago and TUFTS Medical Center/Boston. While at the University of British Columbia, he established the Natural Killer Cell line NK-92, now used worldwide in cancer research and treatment. NK-92 became the core technology for ZelleRx Inc. which he co-founded in 2002 in Chicago and which went public at Nasdaq in 2014. NK-92 cells and its engineered variants are currently further developed by ImmunityBio Inc. for which he served as its Chief Scientific Officer until 2025. Hans has published over 200 research and clinical papers with a strong focus on cancer immunotherapy. He is now focused on his Foundation which supports research projects on canine cancer. He and his wife Sandra spend the majority of their time on Martha’s Vineyard.

Ruth R. Faden, PhD, MPH

Ruth is the founder of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics, its Director from 1995 until 2016, and the inaugural Andreas C. Dracopoulos Director (2014- 2016). Dr. Faden is currently the Philip Franklin Wagley Professor of Biomedical Ethics. From March 2023 through June 2024, she served as Ethics Advisor to the Commissioner of the FDA. Dr. Faden draws on her long-standing interest in justice theory to help address a range of real world and policy challenges, including in public health, research ethics, learning health systems, women’s rights, and AI and other advances in science and technology. Her latest book, with Madison Powers, Structural Injustice: Power, Advantage, and Human Rights is now available in paperback from Oxford University Press.

Susan Branche, PhD

Susan is a licensed clinical psychologist and has worked as a pastoral psychotherapist and grief counselor, beginning on staff at Union Theological Seminary in NYC. She has also given workshops at the Seminary on stress management. This was one aspect of her comprehensive clinical practice which spans work with infants and children, teens, families, couples, adult and geriatric patients. She has worked in hospital, clinic, school, private office, and home settings, and she was a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) specialist in several NYC private schools, conducing parenting skills and workshops on such topics as helping children cope with loss. She has also worked as a psychologist in several nursing homes /rehabilitation centers. Susan holds a Ph.D in Clinical Psychology.

Susan D. Block, MD

Dr. Block received her AB from Stanford University, her MD from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, and completed residencies in internal medicine and psychiatry at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston; she is board certified in both fields. She began working in hospice in 1982 and has been a national leader in the development of the field of palliative medicine, working to bring the core values of hospice into academic medicine. She trained most of the first generation of palliative medicine leaders in the US, and has trained thousands of faculty, fellows, residents, medical students, and undergraduates over her career. She was the Founding Chair of the Department of Psychosocial Oncology and Palliative Care at Dana-Farber and Brigham and Women’s Hospital; Founding Director of the Harvard Medical School Center for Palliative Care, a national center of excellence for palliative care education; and the founder and Director of the Serious Illness Care Program at Ariadne Labs. She is known as an expert in medical education, communication, psychosocial oncology, faculty development, and health system change and is the author of over 200 publications.

Diane Nicholls

Board Volunteer Representative

Diane brings a lifelong commitment to education, research, and compassionate service to her role on the Board of Directors. After graduating from Cornell University, she began her career at Boston Children’s Hospital, contributing to a research study focused on infants with Down syndrome. She later earned a Master’s degree from the University of New Mexico, specializing in psychological and educational testing. Diane spent much of her career in public and private schools, supporting students through educational assessment during the early development of special education programs. She went on to found and publish The Educational Research Newsletter, leading it for 18 years. A dedicated community volunteer, Diane served as Chair of the Capital Campaign and President of the Church Council at West Parish Congregational Church, and for 12 years on the board of Andover Newton Theological School at Yale University. Since 2017, she has volunteered with Hospice & Palliative Care of Martha’s Vineyard, where her compassion and commitment to end-of-life care continue to guide her work on the Board.

Curtis L. Cetrulo, Sr, MD

Board Clerk

Curtis is a longtime Islander and retired physician. He spent much of his career at Boston area hospitals in the field of obstetrics/gynecology and was a professor and member of the Faculty Senate at Tufts University. He’s involved with community-based projects from founding health and wellness programs to coaching kids’ soccer and, most recently, procured COVID-19 test kits for the Town of Aquinnah. Curt and his wife Terry are year-round residents of Martha’s Vineyard.

Alfred Woollacott III

Board Treasurer

Al is currently the Treasurer of the Hospice Board of Directors. He is a year-round Islander who spent over 30 years at the accounting firm KPMG; over 20 years as an audit partner. Since retiring, he continued to use his expertise as the Treasurer for Hospice and Palliative Care of Martha’s Vineyard, former Audit Committee Chair for Brooks Automation, (now Azenta, a NASDAQ listed company), and Board Member and Treasurer for several other Vineyard non-profit organizations. He has published two novels based on his ancestors’ lives and several articles in genealogical register format for professional societies. Al and his wife live year-round on Martha’s Vineyard.

Donald R. Leopold

Board Vice President

Don’s career in management consulting focused on working with private, public and not-for-profit organizations to develop and articulate their business strategies and helping them build the capabilities to successfully implement those strategies. He worked across industries, including hospitals, academic medical centers and other health care providers, consumer goods, private equity, sports and entertainment. Don holds a BA from Harvard College, cum laude in general studies, an MBA from Harvard Business School, and a Master of Arts in the Liberal Arts from the Graduate Institute at St. John’s College. He has served as President of First Parish Unitarian Church in Concord, MA, Vice Chairman of the Board of the Brandon School and Residential Treatment Center, Chairman of ACE MV, and on the Board of St. John’s College. He is currently Vice Chair of the Dukes County Commission, Chairman of the Chilmark Human Resources Board, and member of the Chilmark Finance Advisory Committee. Don and his wife, Deirdre, live in Chilmark, Massachusetts..

Janice E. Casey, RN, BSN, MS

Board President

Janice has been a year-round resident of Martha’s Vineyard since 2001. She is the former owner of the MV Gourmet Café & Bakery, aka Back Door Donuts. Janice helped start and worked at Hospice Care of Stamford (CT) for 21 years as both an executive and an RN. She served as VP of Hospice and Home Care after a merger of Hospice with Stamford Health System. She served as a board member of the National Organization Hospice and Palliative Care from 1984-1990 and the CT Council for Hospice and Palliative Care for 20 years.

Chantale Patterson

Chantale Patterson is a Registered Nurse certified in Oncology and Hospice and Palliative Care, with a nursing career spanning more than two decades. Her clinical experience includes Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplant, Oncology, Intensive Care, and Hospice and Palliative Care. Chantale began her hospice career as an RN Case Manager on Martha’s Vineyard in 2014 and has been with Hospice & Palliative Care of Martha’s Vineyard since 2017. She also holds certification from Harvard Medical School in Palliative Care Education and Practice. As Executive Director, Chantale is deeply committed to ensuring compassionate, high‑quality care and support for individuals and families facing serious illness on Martha’s Vineyard.

Our Board

Board Officers

Janice Casey, RN, BSN, MS

Don Leopold

Alfred Woollacott, III

Curtis Cetrulo, Sr, MD

Diane Nicholls

Board Members

Susan Block, MD

L. Susan Branche, PhD

Ruth R. Faden, PhD, MPH, MA

Hans Klingemann, MD, PhD, FCACB

Timothy Lowe

Chantale Patterson, RN, BSN, OCN, CHPN