Shawndra Ferrell, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, ACHPN

Dr. Shawndra Ferrell is the Midwest Region (IL/WI) Clinical Manager for Advocate Health’s Advance Care Planning & Shared Decision Making in Serious Illness Department. Frontline throughout COVID-19, as a solo-provider and nurse practitioner, she continued to build and maintain Advocate Trinity Hospital’s first inpatient Palliative Care program and remains a member of their Ethics Committee.

With over 25 years of experience, Dr. Ferrell maintains memberships with the Illinois Nurses Association, American Nurses Association, and American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine and has been dedicated to various healthcare roles including Advance Practice Nurse, Registered Nurse, and Faith Community Nurse. She also presently serves as an Ambassador for CAPC Circles and holds current board certifications in both Family Medicine and Hospice & Palliative Medicine.

Unaware of the looming pandemic, in 2018 Dr. Ferrell had begun a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from Loyola University Chicago. In July 2020, she fulfilled the degree with a community-based project on Advance Care Planning Conversations in the African American Church. Among other engagements, this project was invited for presentation at the Health Ministries Association, was accepted at the Ruth K. Palmer Research Symposium, and achieved Special Recognition Poster at CAPC’s 2020 2x4.

In 2022, she was invited to participate on a panel for C-TAC’s Leimert Park, CA workshop focused on the intersection of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) and serious illness and end-of-life care. In 2023, Dr. Ferrell has participated in CAPC’s webinar “Humans and Heroes: A Discourse Analysis of Palliative Care Provider Identity During COVID-19” and NASEM’s Roundtable on Quality Care for People with Serious Illness in Washington, DC.