Monthly Work-In-Progress Session

Presented by:
Sofia C. Zambrano, PhD
Psychologist & Postdoctoral Researcher
University Hospital of Bern, Switzerland

Title: “Talking about death and caring for dying patients: A qualitative perspective on physicians’ and surgeons’ experiences and needs.”

Short Bio

Sofia C. Zambrano is a Colombian psychologist and a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University Hospital of Bern, Switzerland. She is also a Visiting Research Fellow in the School of Psychology at the University of Adelaide in Australia. Sofia obtained her PhD from The University of Adelaide, Australia and her dissertation on how physicians experience the death of their patients was awarded the Dean’s commendation for Research Excellence.  Her main research interests lie in understanding the psychological impact that communicating about death and dying has on healthcare professionals, patients, and families.  She is the principal investigator of an international project funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation that aims to understand how and when physicians decide to communicate with patients and their significant others about the end of life. Together with her Australian husband, she spends her free time in either the Swiss mountains or at opposite ends of the earth, where their friends and family are.