Elena Lister, MD and Michael Schwartzman, Ph.D., ABPP

Elena Lister, MD, is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical Center, a Senior Consulting Analyst for Grief at Columbia Psychoanalytic Center, and a sought-after grief specialist who guides schools and organizations across the U.S. in navigating loss in their communities. In her therapy practice, Lister works with people of all ages facing life challenges, and specializes in supporting people through the illness, dying, and death of loved ones. Since the death of her six-year-old daughter from leukemia in 1996, Lister has devoted her life’s work to helping people navigate the emotional pain and loneliness of loss and grief.

Michael Schwartzman, Ph.D., ABPP, is a senior psychologist and board-certified psychoanalyst who has worked with children, adolescents, adults, and families for more than 40 years. In addition to his private practice, Schwartzman is the consulting psychologist at two independent schools for children and lectures regularly to parents and professional colleagues on child development, parenting, and school-related issues. He is the author of The Anxious Parent: Freeing Yourself from the Stresses and Fears of Parenting.

Lister and Schwartzman are the co-authors of Giving Hope: Conversations with Children About Illness, Death, and Loss.