Meet the Team | Center for the Advancement of Bereavement Care | Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center

Wendy Lichtenthal, PhD, FT, FAPOS

Founding Director
Center for the Advancement of Bereavement Care
Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center

Wendy Lichtenthal, PhD, FT, FAPOS is Founding Director of the Center for the Advancement of Bereavement Care at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center and Professor, Pending Rank, in the Department of Public Health Sciences, Division of Prevention Science and Community Health at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where she continued on as a full-time faculty member and now holds a Consultant Faculty appointment. As a licensed clinical psychologist, her clinical practice for the past two decades has focused on care for bereaved individuals as well as cancer patients and their families. Her federally-funded research has focused on understanding grief and the development of grief interventions, with a focus on meaning-making. She was a recipient of the 2012 International Psycho-Oncology Society Kawano New Investigator Award, the 2019 Association for Death Education and Counseling Research Recognition Award, and the 2023 American Psychosocial Oncology Society Outstanding Clinical Care Award. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Association for Death Education and Counseling. She is deeply committed to the mission of the Center for the Advancement of Bereavement Care, with the aim of building a grief-informed workforce and working to ensure that the care that grievers receive is informed by bereavement science.

Madeline (Maddie) Rogers, LCSW

Clinical Program Manager
Center for the Advancement of Bereavement Care
Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center

Madeline (Maddie) Rogers, LCSW joined the Center for the Advancement of Bereavement Care in 2023 as the Clinical Program Manager. In this position, she collaborates in developing the Center’s evidence-based programming and resources for grief and bereavement education, training, and care. Maddie has extensive experience as a research therapist and research manager. She received her MSW from the New York University Silver School of Social Work Master’s Program in 2018 and is an alumnus of the NYU Zelda Foster Fellowship in Palliative and End-of-Life Care. Maddie became a licensed social worker in 2018 and a licensed clinical social worker in 2023. Currently, she also partners with Weill Cornell Medicine and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center on end-of-life and grief research.

Hannah Celia Candela

Clinical Program Coordinator
Center for the Advancement of Bereavement Care
Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center

Hannah Celia Candela joined the Center for the Advancement of Bereavement Care in 2023 as the Clinical Program Coordinator. Hannah earned her Bachelor of Science in Public Health, with an emphasis on Health Systems Theory and Practice, from the University of Arizona’s Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health in 2023. Hannah was a 2022 keynote speaker for the University of Arizona’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion: Resilience series. Her background includes extensive experience in community health care, having worked previously as an Administrative Assistant for Marana Health Center, Arizona’s longest-serving community health center. Additionally, she interned in 2022 with the Department of Surgery at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Jessica Schlichting

Senior Administrative Assistant
Center for the Advancement of Bereavement Care
Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center

Jessica Schlichting joined the Center for the Advancement of Bereavement Care in early 2024 as the Senior Administrative Assistant to Director Wendy Lichtenthal. Jessy brings experience from her time as an undergraduate research assistant, where she focused on exercise interventions to improve ovarian cancer treatment outcomes. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology and Biology from the University of Virginia in 2022 and is currently enrolled in UM's Prevention Science and Community Health Master's program. As a Miami local, Jessy is excited to contribute her skills to the Center’s mission.