The Fun, Functional, and Family-Centered Ingredients for Successful Therapeutic Cooking Interventions - (2024)

Lisa has been a Certified Child Life Specialist for 10 years. She began her career at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia working, first, on the outpatient Radiology/Sedation unit before transitioning to the inpatient Oncology unit. In 2022, Lisa moved from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia to Nemours Children's Hospital in Wilmington, Delaware, where she continued her work with the inpatient Oncology population. In March, she took her skills and knowledge from the hospital setting with her to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society where she now works as a Campaign Development Manager for the Visionaries of the Year campaign. Lisa holds a Master's degree in Applied Developmental Psychology with concentrations in Child Life and Behavioral Health from the University of Pittsburgh. She is also a certified Trauma Informed Care Practitioner. Prior to her career as a Child Life Specialist, Lisa worked in behavioral health as a Therapeutic Support Staff (TSS) and a Behavioral Specialist Consultant (BSC). Throughout her career, she has been passionate about continuing her work with patients who have behavioral and developmental considerations, as well as patients and families battling cancer. She also has been highly involved in Adolescent and Young Adult programming and support. She has held the highest level on the clinical ladder both at CHOP and at Nemours. During her career she has been a Reflective Practice Group Facilitator, a Clinical Leader, an ACLP Mentor, assisted in writing several grants and research articles, and served as the Adolescent and Young Adult Child Life Lead for several years. In her free time, Lisa enjoys spending time with her friends, family, and rescue dog, Lily, She also enjoys spending time at the beach, taking trips to Disney World, watching Pittsburgh Steelers football, and participating in Orange Theory workouts regularly.  

Jana has been a dual-certified therapeutic recreation and child life specialist for 19 years. She started her career at Arkansas Children’s Hospital and has been at Nemours Children’s Hospital, Delaware for almost 12 years as a Senior Child Life Specialist. She holds a master’s degree in Applied Family Science from Wilmington University and is also a Certified Brain Injury Specialist. Jana has always worked with medically complex children, primarily in inpatient rehabilitation utilizing her recreation therapy and child life skills. The primary populations that Jana works with are traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, amputations, skeletal dysplasia, and cerebral palsy. Jana is currently the co-coordinator of the child life internship program, a reflective practice group facilitator, a clinical leader and mentor in the department, and serves on interprofessional shared governance for the hospital and many other department and population-specific task forces and initiatives. Jana also wrote a Family-Centered Care chapter in a respiratory therapy textbook. Jana enjoys distance trail running, hiking, doing Peloton workouts, traveling, and spending time with friends, family, and her rescued black and tan coonhound, Crosby.