Phyllis Whitehead, PhD, APRN/CNS, ACHPN, PMGT-BC, FNAP, FCN

Dr. Phyllis Whitehead is a clinical ethicist and clinical nurse specialist with the Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital (CRMH) Palliative Care Service and Associate Professor at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine. She initiated the Palliative Medicine and Moral Distress Consult Services at CRMH. She is certified in pain management and as an advanced practice hospice and palliative care nurse. Dr. Whitehead has done numerous presentations on pain and symptom management, opioid induced sedation, moral distress, and patients’ end of life preferences locally, regionally, nationally and internationally. Her research interests include moral distress and improving communication with seriously ill patients and has been funded for numerous grants for her research. She was a Board of Director member of the National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialist and is a Past President of the National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists and President of the Virginia Foundation of Nurses. She was a member of the ANA Moral Resilience Advisory Committee. She is a founding member and Board of Director member of the Virginia Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists. She was selected for Governor Ralph Northam’s Policy Council on Opioid and Substance Abuse this year. In 2020 she was elected as a Distinguished Practitioner Fellow in the National Academy of Practice in Nursing. In 2021 she was inducted into the American Academy of Nursing as a Fellow. In 2023, she was inducted into the National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists as a Fellow. She is a graduate of Radford University where she earned her BSN and MSN and earned her doctorate degree at Virginia Tech.