Jeff attended Stanford University for his undergraduate work followed by the University of Washington for medical school and the Mayo Clinic for residency training. He then practiced emergency medicine at Intermountain Healthcare for 22 years. When it was time for a change, Jeff started working with Intermountain’s Hospice service and knew he had found something very special. Some of his first work in this field was at The INN Between. Today, Jeff still sees this experience as confirming to him the incredible value of hospice care and community service. Jeff served as the Senior Medical Director for Intermountain Homecare and Hospice for five years and has returned to direct patient care.
Jillian Olmsted, Executive Director
Jillian Olmsted's journey with The INN Between is deeply rooted in personal experiences and a profound understanding of its mission. As a mother of two and a military wife of over 21 years, she developed a heartfelt appreciation for the organization's work after witnessing her own family's battles with cancer. In a single year, her mother, father, and stepfather all faced this relentless disease. Both her parents required hospice care before their passing, with her father also facing unemployment and lacking insurance coverage while in need of life-saving surgery. Jillian stepped up as his caregiver while he received charity care at Huntsman Cancer Hospital, ultimately losing him to the illness.
Her connection to The INN Between began as a volunteer, but her dedication and expertise quickly led to her role as the Events and Outreach Coordinator. Over time, she transitioned into the position of Operations and Human Resources Director, taking on multifaceted responsibilities including facility management, event coordination, IT management, and organizational operations. Her commitment to professional growth and development has been evident, as she earned a Professional Management Certificate from the University of Utah and completed all nine organizational credentials from the Utah Nonprofits Association during her tenure with The INN Between.
Sunita Puri , MD, MS
Dr. Sunita Puri is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine, where she is the Director of the Inpatient Palliative Care Service. She is the author of That Good Night: Life and Medicine in the Eleventh Hour, a critically acclaimed literary memoir examining her journey to the practice of palliative medicine, and her quest to help patients and families redefine what it means to live and die well in the face of serious illness. A graduate of Yale University and the recipient of a Rhodes Scholarship, her writing has appeared in the New Yorker, Atlantic, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Slate, Wall Street Journal, and the Journal of the American Medical Association. She and her work have been featured in the Atlantic, People Magazine, PBS’ Christian Amanpour Show, NPR, the Guardian, BBC, India Today, and Literary Hub. In 2019, the Guardian made a mini-documentary of her work with her patients, which has been viewed over 3.5 million times. She has been awarded writing residencies at the Bogliasco Foundation, MacDowell, Yaddo, Hedgebrook, Mesa Refuge, and UCross. She is passionate about the ways that the precise and compassionate use of language can empower patients and physicians to have the right conversations about living and dying.
Sarah Schear, MD, MS
Dr. Schear is a pediatrician completing her training in hospice and palliative medicine. She cares deeply about providing symptom relief and whole-person support for children experiencing serious illness and their families. She completed her pediatric residency at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, DC and medical school at the UC Berkeley – UC San Francisco Joint Medical Program.
Dr. Schear is passionate about offering equitable, culturally sensitive care to patients of diverse backgrounds. This passion grew as she completed her B.A. in Anthropology at Amherst College, pursued a Fulbright-Nehru fellowship in India, and worked in community mental health services in rural Alabama before medical school. Dr. Schear has studied barriers and strategies for palliative care service expansion in India and serves as the Chair of the pediatric sub-committee for Pallium India, Inc.
After witnessing the impact of wildfires and air pollution in California and Utah, Dr. Schear also works to organize health professionals to protect our environment. She is a Climate Advocate with the Utah Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and serves on the executive board of Medical Students for a Sustainable Future. She was named a 2024 Emerging Physician Leader by Health Care Without Harm and the Association of American Medical Colleges for her work on climate change and medical education.
Outside of work, she loves to hike throughout Utah with her husband and their elder dog, Stella.
Davi Vitela , PhD, CCLS
Davi Vitela-Elliott is a certified child life specialist who works on the pediatric palliative care team at Primary Children’s Hospital. She has worked on the team for over 6 years and is passionate about patient advocacy and supporting families through the challenges of prolonged hospitalization and chronic illness.
