Dr. Shoshana Ungerleider, Tembi Locke, Nikki Boyer and Katherine LaNasa
Photo credit: Michael Kovac/End Well
- Empowering access to learning, reflection, and community-building around the end of life.
Overview
Founded in 2017 by Dr. Shoshana Ungerleider, End Well sits at the nexus of healthcare, culture and public conversation — advancing a new vision for how society understands and experiences the end of life.
Through interdisciplinary convenings, educational initiatives, research partnerships, and powerful storytelling, End Well brings together an unlikely but essential coalition: clinicians and caregivers, researchers and policy leaders, artists and media creators, doulas, innovators, and community members. In a field often defined by professional silos, End Well creates rare spaces where these voices can learn from one another, challenge assumptions, and co-create more humane, responsive systems of care.
Recognizing that the end of life is not only a medical moment but a deeply human one, End Well bridges clinical expertise with cultural influence — translating research into conversation, and conversation into action. By engaging both healthcare and popular culture, the organization helps normalize honest dialogue, expand access to choice, and inspire new narratives about what it means to live — and care — well. End Well is catalyzing a growing movement grounded in dignity, connection, and possibility — working toward a future where living well includes the way we care for one another all the way through the end of life.
Desired Impact
The Simms/Mann Family Foundation has been a longtime supporter of End Well and its annual interdisciplinary gathering, recognizing the importance of education, connection and whole-person care for those working on the front lines of serious illness and end-of-life experiences. Foundation support has helped expand access by funding participation for nurses, clinicians, and other healthcare professionals who might not otherwise have the opportunity to attend – including past recipients of the Foundation’s Off the Chart: Rewarding Nursing Greatness recognition.
By supporting access to learning, reflection, and community, the Foundation is helping strengthen a more compassionate and connected healthcare culture, one where providers feel supported and patients and families navigating serious illness, caregiving, and grief experience greater understanding and care.
The greatest gift at End Well was the chance to hear from so many voices that I would not have found. The speakers were diverse in every way, and it was such a privilege to learn from them all!”
