Core Staff

Rosemary EllisRosemary Ellis joined The Doula Program in June 2021 as its Interim Executive Director. A management consultant who specializes in helping nonprofits bridge management gaps, Ellis also guides organizations through strategic planning and change management processes, core operations evaluation and management, key personnel hiring, brand building, and partnership building. She has worked with both nonprofit and private-sector organizations, and has advised multiple start-up companies.

After serving as Interim CEO of a global health nonprofit in 2017, Ellis led other organizations focusing on social justice, health, and reproductive rights. Previously, she was Editor-In-Chief of Good Housekeeping, where she oversaw both traditional and emerging media products, The Good Housekeeping Research Institute, and all business extensions. She was SVP and Editorial Director of Prevention, and was CMO at Human Condition, an early-stage technology B-corporation.

Ellis has appeared on The Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, CNN and other television venues, and has written for The New York Times, The Huffington Post, Health, Departures, and American Health, among others.

She is inspired by and committed to the work The Doula Program does, and first experienced the privilege of doing that work when, as a teen, she volunteered to regularly babysit a little girl with an inoperable brain tumor for the last 3 months of her life.

 

Lisa ZeitzLisa Zeitz, LMSW, is the Clinical Supervisor of The Doula Program. Since receiving her Masters in Social Work at NYU, she has worked in a variety of settings, focusing on critical and chronic illness, end of life care, and bereavement. Zeitz worked in pediatric oncology at NYU Medical Center as well as in a number of other acute-care hospitals before specializing in issues around death, dying and bereavement across the lifespan. For over 15 years, she was a coordinator and co-facilitator for The Bereavement Center of Westchester and The Treehouse program. There she coordinated a group program for families who had suffered the death of a parent or a child and had surviving children between the ages of four and eighteen. She also ran grief-focused groups for adults of all ages, while developing and running a training program for volunteers at The Treehouse.

Zeitz is on the faculty of the End of Life Certificate Program at the Smith College School of Social Work, where she also teaches continuing education courses. She presents on issues around death, dying and grief in a variety of community based and academic settings.

 

Laurie MassryLaurie Massry, MPH is the Program Manager at the Doula Program to Accompany and Comfort. She earned her MPH from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University and completed her undergraduate degree in Human Development at Cornell University. Upon graduation from Cornell, Laurie taught elementary school in Memphis, Tennessee with Teach for America.

Laurie strives to improve the health and wellbeing of all individuals and is particularly passionate about helping those who are most vulnerable. As Program Manager, she manages the operational and administrative aspects of the Doula Program and brings her dedicated spirit to ensure the organization continues to grow and meet its mission.

 

Amy LevineAmy Levine, LCSW, Founder Emeritus, has been a leader committed to the work of the Doula Program since first becoming a Doula Volunteer in 2003. She joined the professional staff in 2004, when the Doula Program was under the auspices of a New York City social service agency.

Amy is an internationally recognized educator, author, and consultant in the field of aging, serious illness and end-of-life care. In 2012, she established The Doula Program to Accompany and Comfort, Inc. as an independent nonprofit organization. During her years as Executive Director and Clinical Director, she created the experiential Doula Volunteer training model, forged new healthcare and community partnerships, and developed the Palliative Care Doula Volunteer Program utilized by major hospitals. She has taught post-graduate seminars and presented at conferences sponsored by the Hospice and Palliative Care Association and the American Hospital Association.

Amy has been interviewed by publications including The New York Times and the Financial Times. She has written for the HuffPost and her book, “Final Wishes, a Journal for Reflections on Life and Guidance for Settling Your Affairs,” was published in 2021.

Amy received her MSW and a Certificate in Worksite Wellness from New York University, and is a graduate of the End-of-Life Practitioners Program of the Metta Institute. alevine@doulaprogram.org

 

Program Associates support the work of Doula Volunteers.