31st Annual

Kenneth B. Schwartz
Compassionate Healthcare Dinner

Local Roots. Global Reach.

Tuesday, October 27, 2026 • The Westin Boston Seaport
425 Summer Street, Boston, MA

2026 Compassionate Healthcare Dinner invitation artwork

Dear Friends,

Welcome to our 31st Annual Kenneth B. Schwartz Compassionate Healthcare Dinner. Thank you for generously supporting our mission and for joining us tonight. Tonight’s theme — Local Roots, Global Reach — captures our story: an organization born from one family’s healthcare experience, now bringing compassionate care to healthcare teams and patients around the world. That story starts close to home. Our roots remain in the Schwartz Rounds® program, which continues to sustain healthcare teams here in Boston — like the team at The Boston Home, who will share their story tonight. Yet our reach now extends far beyond our own community, with nearly half of our partner sites outside of the U.S. You can see that reach as we honor the 2026 recipients of our Schwartz Compassionate Caregiver Award. This year’s recipients come from California, Texas, and Belfast, Northern Ireland, and their work shows us what’s possible when clinical excellence meets genuine human connection. It is a reminder that compassion is compassion, no matter where you are in the world. Your support makes all of this work possible. It funds the programs that help caregivers stay connected to their empathy and ensures that patients receive the compassionate care they deserve, both locally and beyond. Every dollar raised tonight transforms healthcare delivery, turning our global vision into a tangible reality for patients, families, and care teams everywhere. As Ken Schwartz wrote 31 years ago, “Each one of us wants not simply the best possible care for our body but for our whole being.” That truth doesn’t change with geography. We’re grateful for champions like you, standing with us as we carry Ken’s vision further than ever before.

Michael Gustafson, MD, MBA

CEO, The Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare

Robyn Begley

Former Chief Executive Officer, AONL
Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer, AHA

Ellen R. Cohen

Founder, Schwartz Center Board

Support our Cause

Support the Schwartz Center

Your generosity helps sustain vital programs that strengthen the well-being of healthcare professionals — so they can be there for their patients when it matters most.

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An Evening Together

2026 Dinner Program

WELCOME PERFORMANCE

NEW ENGLAND CONSERAVATORY STUDENTS

OVERVIEW OF TONIGHT'S PROGRAM

ANDY SAKS
Emcee

WELCOME

MICHAEL GUSTAFSON, MD, MBA
CEO, The Schwartz Center

THE PATIENT I'LL NEVER FORGET

2026 SCHWARTZ COMPASSIONATE CAREGIVER AWARD RECIPIENTS

Malathi Balasundaram, MD

Neonatal Intensivist, El Camino Health Clinical Professor, Stanford School of Medicine Founder and Executive Director, Family-Centered Care Taskforce Palo Alto, California

Gerard Duffy

Community Nurse for the Homeless Belfast Health and Social Care Trust Belfast, Northern Ireland

Tyler Jorgensen, MD

Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine Assistant Program Director, Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin Austin, Texas

CELEBRATING THE SCCA RECIPIENTS

Mark Reynolds
CRICO

THE IMPACT OF THE SCHWARTZ ROUNDS PROGRAM

THE BOSTON HOME

COMPASSION APPEAL

VICTORIA STEVENS
The Boston Home

INTRODUCTION OF KEYNOTE

ROBYN BEGLEY, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN,
Former Chief Executive Officer, AONL; Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer, AHA

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

MAUREEN BISOGNANO
President Emerita and Senior Fellow, Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI)

CLOSING AND DESSERT RECEPTION

ANDY SAKS
Emcee

Generous Contributions

Leadership & Donor List

We gratefully acknowledge the extraordinary commitment of our sponsors and donors.

View Donor List View Leadership

Program Coordination

Event Committee

ROBYN BEGLEY, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, Former Chief Executive Officer, AONL; Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer, AHA

JOSHUA BOGER, PHD,

ELLEN R. COHEN, MSW, Founder, Schwartz Center Board

WENDY K. COHEN, LICSW

ETHAN CRAIN, Co-Lead, U.S. Healthcare Practice, Lockton

WILLIAM T. CURRY, JR., MD, Chief Medical Officer, Academic Medical Center, Mass General Brigham

JAMES C. DE VELLIS, Partner, Foley & Lardner, LLP

MISHELE AND ROBERT FIELDS, MD, Executive Vice President & Chief Clinical Officer, Beth Israel Lahey Health

MATTHEW FISHMAN,

MELISSA A. FITZPATRICK, MSN, RN, FAAN, President, Kirby Bates Associates

GRAHAM GARDNER, MD, MBA, Founder and Former Chief Executive Officer, Kyruus Health

MATT GERMAK MD, MPH, Vice President of Patient Safety, CRICO

ELIZABETH L.B. GREENE, Partner, Mirick

BRENT L. HENRY, Member, Mintz

ED KEOHANE, Founder and CEO, Babywell MD

MICHELE KLAU, RNCS, The Danielsen Institute at Boston University

SARAH LUKAS, Former Partner, Edelstein & Co., LLP

SHARON MCNALLY, CEO, Camp Harbor View Foundation

ANN MUSCHETT AND MICHAEL L. BLAU, Former Partner, Foley & Lardner LLP

REENA L. PANDE, MD, Partner, Oxeon

PARESH PUROHIT, Vice President, Marsh MMA

SCOTT QUINT AND MICHAEL GUSTAFSON, MD, MBA, CEO, The Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare

JEAN-PAUL A. REBILLARD, Executive Vice President, MedPro Group

JAY SHILAND, Partner, MTS Health Partners LP

COLETTE AND DAN STANZLER, Partner/Portfolio Manager

MARJORIE AND PAUL STANZLER

ELIZABETH VERNAGLIA, PHD, AND LAWRENCE VERNAGLIA, Partner, Foley and Lardner LLP

Keynote Speaker

Maureen Bisognano

Recipient, Schwartz Compassion Champion Award

President Emerita and Senior Fellow, Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI)

Schwartz Compassionate Caregiver Award

2026 Recipients

Since 1999, the Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare has honored extraordinary healthcare professionals from across the country who embody the characteristics of compassionate care and whose professional achievements have helped to create healing healthcare environments for patients, families, colleagues, and communities.

The Schwartz Center is grateful to CRICO for its generous support of the Schwartz Compassionate Caregiver Award. For close to 50 years, CRICO has provided industry-leading medical professional liability coverage, claims management, and patient safety resources to all of the Harvard medical institutions and their affiliates, and is a recognized leader in evidence-based risk management.

Malathi Balasundaram, MD

Neonatal Intensivist, El Camino Health Clinical Professor, Stanford School of Medicine Founder and Executive Director, Family-Centered Care Taskforce Palo Alto, California

Gerard Duffy

Community Nurse for the Homeless Belfast Health and Social Care Trust Belfast, Northern Ireland

Tyler Jorgensen, MD

Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine Assistant Program Director, Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin Austin, Texas

The Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare

What We Do

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.

Learn More

Kenneth B. Schwartz

History

The Schwartz Center reflects the vision of Ken Schwartz, a Boston healthcare attorney who died of lung cancer at age 40 and found that what mattered to him most was the human connection he felt with his caregivers, which he said made “the unbearable bearable.” He established the Schwartz Center in 1995 – just days before his death – to ensure that all patients and families are treated with compassion.

Remembering Our Friends

In Memoriam

Clare Midgley

Clare Midgley served on our Board from 2004 to 2016, when she joined our Honorary Board until she passed away on February 5. Clare was one of biotechnology’s most respected communications leaders, holding senior roles at Genetics Institute, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and founding her own consultancy, Midgley Advisors. She built her career on the belief that great scientists could also become great communicators, coaching countless leaders to find their voice on the industry’s biggest stages. That same conviction shaped her years of service on our Board, where she championed the idea that compassion must remain at the heart of healthcare.

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Extended Gratitude

Special Thanks

The Schwartz Center is grateful to everyone who helped make this 31st Annual Dinner a success by contributing time and in-kind support.