Curriculum Vitae

Education
DNP Candidate Health Systems Leadership Fall 2025
University of Colorado Anschutz
Fellowship Pain & Palliative Care June 2013
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
MSN Adult/Palliative Nurse Practitioner Sep 2011
New York University
BSN Nursing May 2008
New York University

Honors and Awards
• Advanced Practice Provider of the Year - City of Hope 2022
• The Daisy Award for Extraordinary Nurses (3 times) & Guardian Angel (3 times)
• Recognizing You Award Winner – 08/18
• Recognition from the Clinical Excellence & Research Center at Stanford University
o Identified as an outlier for the provision of excellent end of life care in the U.S.
• Entry into the United States Congressional Record for life saving action taken on September 11, 2001

Professional Experience

Director, Advanced Practice - Department of Medicine, Department of Radiation Oncology, & Department of Supportive Care Medicine
June 2025-Present
City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA

Manager, Advanced Practice – Supportive Care Medicine 2022-Present
City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA
• Clinical management of eleven Supportive Medicine Nurse Practitioners and one Registered Nurse
• Improve service productivity while decreasing utilization of overtime
• Mentor each of my direct reports in their pursuit of certification as Advanced Certified Hospice & Palliative Nurses, Clinical Advancement Program, & Post-Master’s certificate in Addiction Medicine. Mentor winner of CURE Extraordinary Healer Award at ONS
• Maintain all responsibilities listed below
• Achieved 99th percentile nationally in the Press Ganey Diversity Index


Nurse Practitioner – Supportive Care Medicine 2019-2022
City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA
• Provide expert inpatient and outpatient supportive care for patients with advanced cancer.
• Consult on refractory pain and symptoms for patients with advanced cancer.
• Educate physicians, nurse practitioners, and nurses about supportive care medicine, complex pain and symptom management, and goals of care discussions.
o Improving Goal Concordant Care – a joint vision of the Alliance of Dedicated Cancer Centers ensuring that patients and providers engage in shared decision making and goal concordant care sooner
o End of Life Nursing Education Consortium – a national education initiative to improve palliative care
o University of California Riverside Workshop – lead work groups of medical students in Delivering Difficult News
o City of Hope RN Orientation & Residency Programs – educate RN’s regarding pain & symptom management
• Review journal articles under consideration for publication.
• Participate in research and the advancement of palliative care as a specialty.
• Lead effort to ensure all Hematology and Medical Oncology patients receive Supportive Medicine consultation upon admission to the Intensive Care Unit correlating with a two day decrease in average length of stay
Nurse Practitioner – Outpatient Palliative Medicine Service 2019
Rocky Mountain VA Medical Center
• Provided expert outpatient palliative care to veterans.
• Ensured veterans were educated about and had access to the wide array of services available to them including concurrent care.
• Participated in tele-health clinic ensuring that veterans in rural areas of Colorado received expert palliative care.
Nurse Practitioner – Palliative Medicine Service 2014-2019
UCHealth North – Medical Center of the Rockies
• Started a Palliative Medicine Service at Medical Center of the Rockies, a regional trauma and cardiovascular surgery center
o Built program from one provider (myself) to a team of three Nurse Practitioners, a Social Worker, and Program Coordinator over 5 years
o Total encounters doubled in 2015 and the 950 initial consults at Medical Center of the Rockies and Poudre Valley Hospital eclipsed the 900 initial consults at UCHealth Anschutz despite their greater bed capacity for the same time period
o Total initial consults increased to 1278 with 5% penetration in 2017
o Cost avoidance was demonstrated in those who received palliative care
• Initiated daily palliative presence for rounds within both surgical/trauma and cardiovascular surgery intensive care units ensuring close collaboration with primary specialists and intensivists
• Led two Nurse Practitioners to successful completion of their Advanced Certified Hospice & Palliative nurse certification
• Developed compassionate extubation, intravenous Lidocaine, and intravenous Ketamine order sets in collaboration with pharmacy
• Collaborate with colleagues in palliative medicine in Fort Collins, Denver, and Colorado Springs to create a service line across the system with initial focus on collaboration with ICU’s and advance care planning in the community
• Provide grand rounds, regional speaking engagements on pain management, and multiple talks in the community and the hospital
• Precept residents, NP students, and nursing students
• Participate in creation of policy for Medical Aid in Dying for UCHealth
• Sat on ethics committee
• Ensure patients and families receive care in line with their goals, relieve suffering, and provide emotional support
Nurse Practitioner, Night Hospitalist, Department of Medicine 2013-2014
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
• Provide overnight cross coverage for various services.
• Admit patients to the inpatient units.
Nurse Practitioner Fellow – Pain & Palliative Care 2012-2013
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
• Consult on refractory pain and symptoms in patients with advanced cancer.
• Provide education and emotional support to patients, families, and staff.
• Receive didactic and experiential training in communication skills, goals of care, and advance care planning
Clinical Nurse – Urgent Care Center 2006-2012
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
• Provide care for children and adults who present with a wide-ranging array of oncologic emergencies.
• Fulfill different unit roles including triage, charge RN, and educational responsibilities.




Director of Long Term Care Programming 2004-2005
Hospice of New York
• Developed framework of new program by authoring mission statement, job descriptions, and staffing matrixes.
• Collaborated with a team to identify differences in home, long term, and inpatient care nuances to develop strategies to increase the effectiveness of the newly developed Long Term Care Program.
• Cultivated new relationships and solidified existing ones with long term care facilities.
• Provided hospice pain management and symptom control education to staff of partner facilities.
Staff Nurse 2001-2004
Hospice of New York
• Performed physical assessments and consultations on terminal patients.
• Provided palliative care measures to manage pain and symptoms.
• Provided emotional support to patients and families.
• Coordinated interdisciplinary team including social services, spiritual care, and volunteer services for patient and family.

Licensure/Certification License #: Date:
Adult Nurse Practitioner CA 95012960 Exp. 05/31/27
Registered Professional Nurse CA 95202694 05/19-05/27
Drug Enforcement Agency Certificate MR2543759 Exp. 04/27
Basic Cardiac Life Support (AHA) 225412792368 Exp. 02/26
AANP Adult NP Certification A0212027 02/12-01/27
Advanced Certified Hospice and Palliative Nurse 317200011 03/09/26
National Practitioner Enumerator (NPI) 1205105806

Membership, Scientific & Nursing Societies
American Academy of Hospice & Palliative Medicine 00200172 Exp. 7/31/25
Hospice & Palliative Nurses Association

Publications
• Ramirez, C.T., Fundalinski, K., Knudson, J., Himberger, J. Palliative Care & Requests for Assistance in Dying. Oxford Textbook of Palliative Nursing, 5th Ed.
• Ramirez, C.T., and Fundalinski, K. Performance and Prognostic Tools. Core Curriculum for the Advanced Practice Hospice and Palliative Registered Nurse, 3rd Ed.
• Ramirez, C.T., and Dahlin, C. Discontinuation of Medically Administered Nutrition: Supporting Patient Values, Beliefs, and Goals. American Nurse Journal. MANH: discontinuing medically administered nutrition (myamericannurse.com)
• Weirich, B. and Ramirez, C.T. Nature: A Post-Pandemic Prescription. Nurse Leader, 20(5) 473-479. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mnl.2022.06.003
• Ramirez, C.T., Legault, N.J., and Sketeris, K.A. (2024). Using Mobility Tools within
Multidimensional Assessments to Increase Prognostic Awareness and Assist in Shared Decision Making to Enhance Goal Concordant Care. Seminars in Oncology Nursing, 40(4). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soncn.2024.151675.
• Ramirez, C.T. and Verma, R.K. (2024). Early Palliative Care Improves Patient and Caregiver Quality of Life. Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing, 28(5) 496-501. https://doi.org/10.1188/24.CJON.

Research Experience
• Ahmed, K., Ramirez, C.T., Williams, S., Olivares, M., Wong, S., Mecusker, E., & Rocha, S. (2025). Results Surveying Supportive Medicine’s integration into an NCI Cancer Centers ICU. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. 69(5). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2025.02.426
• Greer, J.A. et. al (2024).Telehealth vs In-Person Early Palliative Care for Patients With Advanced Lung Cancer: A Multisite Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA,332(14), 1153-1164. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2024.13964.
• Glare, P.A., Alickaj, A., Blinder, V.S., Nikolova, T., Ramirez, C., Raghavan, V., Crowley, J., & Frierson, E.L. Survey of palliative care patients WHO work. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 31(15). DOI: 10.1200/jco.2013.31.15_suppl.e20677

Presentations and Invited Lectures
• Oncology Nursing Society Congress 2025
o Addressing the Elephant in the Room: The Stigma of Cancer
• NCCN REMS Cancer Pain Management Series
o Unraveling Cancer Pain Dynamics
 Session 1: Fundamentals of Cancer Pain Management
 Session 2: Therapeutic Approaches to Cancer Pain
 Session 3: Individualized Opioid Management in Oncology
 Session 4: Interdisciplinary Collaboration in Cancer Pain Management
• NCCN 2024 Nursing Program:
o Title: Pain Management in Oncology
• City of Hope 2nd Annual EBP and Research Symposium
o Keynote Address Title: The Art of Palliative Care
• ONS Bridge Conference
o Title: Palliative Care: Timing Matters
• NCCN 2023 Nursing Program: Advancing Oncology Nursing
o Title: Early Involvement of Palliative Care in Cancer Treatment
• Goal Concordant Care and Advance Care Planning – City of Hope
o Workshops 1 and 2 for all APP’s
• Schwartz Rounds – City of Hope
o Caring for Patients with Opioid Use Disorder
• NP Week – City of Hope
o CARES
• RN Residency Program (Recurring) – City of Hope
o Pain Assessment & Management
• Radiation Oncology – City of Hope
o Pain Assessment & Management
• AYA Program – City of Hope
o Supportive Care Medicine: We Improve Lives
• 28th Annual Rocky Mountain Inter-Professional Research & Evidence-Based Practice Symposium
o Poster Presentation: Exploring the Opinions of Providers & Nurses Regarding the Value of Palliative Medicine in Distinct Critical Care Units with Katherine Corey, MPA, BSN, Melanie Roberts, APRN, CCRN, CCNS, & Julie Dunn, MD, MS, FACS