Virginia (Ginger) Marshall loves being a nurse. Her growth from a bedside nurse on a med-surg unit to CEO of Hospice Palliative Nurses Association (HPNA), Hospice Palliative Credentialing Center (HPCC), and Hospice Palliative Nursing Foundation (HPNF) has been fueled by this love of Nursing and her natural curiosity. It has always been important to her to understand the “why” in both her clinical and leadership experiences. She feels extremely fortunate for the mentoring she received early on through her volunteer work with these organizations. This mentoring contributed to her professional growth which in turn allowed her to pay-it-forward by mentoring numerous interdisciplinary colleagues.
She has been involved in Hospice and Palliative Care leadership for the past 15 years. As a Director, she established Palliative Care programs at an academic teaching hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah and in eight hospitals for a large healthcare system in Charlotte, NC. While in Charlotte, her passion for education led her to develop a primary Palliative Care course which educated over 1000 interdisciplinary bedside healthcare providers. She also served as the Senior Vice President of Palliative Care for a large national hospice where she established community-based Palliative Care programs across the country.
Her experience in governance is well grounded through her 12 years of committee and Board service including her role as president for both HPCC and HPNA.
One of her favorite adages is “speak your mind even if your voice shakes.” Ginger’s voice has been heard at national presentations on Palliative Care and leadership, The Institute of Medicine Roundtable on Health Literacy, a Senate Finance Committee meeting on serious illness, and at the table across from healthcare payers discussing the benefits of Hospice and Palliative Care.
Ginger, a first-generation college student, completed her undergraduate work at University of Maryland and her post-graduate work at University of Pennsylvania. Her dedication to advancing expert care in serious illness has been recognized by the HPNA designation of FPCN (Fellow in Palliative Care Nursing).
