Cathy Berkman

BS, University of Vermont
MSW, Boston University
PhD, Yale University
NIMH Post-doctoral Fellowship, Columbia University, School of Public Health, Psychiatric Epidemiology Training Program

Palliative and end-of-life care, including:

• Knowledge, attitudes and behaviors about advance care planning
• Cultural differences
• Discriminatory care experienced by LGBTQ+ patients and their partners

Aging and mental health

Cathy Berkman is a Professor at Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service. She received a BS from the University of Vermont, with a major in social welfare. She earned an MSW from Boston University, with a focus on community organization and research. Her PhD is from Yale University, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, where she was an NIMH Pre-Doctoral Fellow in psychosocial and psychiatric epidemiology and aging). She was an NIMH Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Columbia University School of Public Health, Psychiatric Epidemiology Training Program and a Research Associate at the Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology. 

Berkman is the Director of the Palliative Care Fellowship, which is an immersive program for Specialist Year MSW students who want a career working with seriously ill persons and their families.

Berkman is Chair of the Research Domain and teaches research methods in the MSW program and teaches courses on statistics and integrative quantitative research in the PhD program.

Berkman’s research focuses on palliative and end-of-life care, including: cross-cultural issues in preferences for treatment, communication with health care providers and family, and knowledge and attitudes about advance care planning; and discriminatory palliative and end-of-life care received by LGBTQ+ patients. She is also conducting research on the underrepresentation of persons of color in palliative and hospice care.

Dr. Berkman CV 2025

Courses Currently Taught:

Applied Social Work Research and Evaluation (MSW Program)
Statistics I (PhD Program)
Integrative Quantitative Research (PhD Program)

MSW Courses Developed:

Palliative Social Work
Grief, Loss and Bereavement
Social Work Practice in Healthcare

Stein, G. L., Berkman, C., Acquaviva, K., Javier, N. M., Godfrey, D., Maingi, S., Candrian, C., O’Mahony, S., gonzález-rivera, c., Woody, I., & Rosa, W. E. (in press). Training healthcare providers caring for seriously ill LGBTQ+ persons and their partners: Project Respect. Journal of Palliative Medicine, 0(0), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1093/haschl/qxad049 

Glajchen M, Berkman C, Otis-Green S, Portenoy RK. (in press) Advancing the primary palliative workforce: Pilot results of the Educating Social Workers in Palliative and End-of-Life Care (ESPEC) self-study program J Palliat Med. 0(0):1 - 23. 

Berkman, C., Stein, G. L., Rosa, W. E., Acquaviva, K. D., Godfrey, D., Woody, I., Maingi, S., gonzález-rivera, c., Candrian, C., O’Mahoney, S., & Javier, N. M. (in press). Discriminatory health care reported by seriously ill LGBTQ+ persons and partners: Project Respect. Palliative & Supportive Care. 

Glajchen, M., Otis-Green, S., Berkman, C., & Portnoy, R. K. (2024). Educating social workers in palliative and end-of-life care: Development and implementation of a new national training program. Journal of Palliative Medicine, 27(5), 638-643. https://doi.org/10.1089/jpm.2023.0516 

Liu, X. & Berkman, C. (2024). Congruence between older Chinese immigrants and their adult children on hospice attitudes and preferences: An actor–partner interdependence model. American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/10499091241265100 

Berkman, C., Stein, G. L., Javier, N. M., O'Mahony, S., Maingi, S., & Godfrey, D. (2024). Disrespectful and inadequate palliative care to transgender persons. Palliat Support Care, 22(1), 3-9. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1478951523001104

Barnhart, M., Berkman, C., & Mapp, S. C. (2022). When lightning strikes twice: Perceptions of oncology social workers about working with families with two members in treatment. Psycho-Oncology, 31(12), 2086-2093. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/pon.6040 

Berkman, C., Ahronheim, J. C., & Vitale, C. A. (2019). Speech-language pathologists’ views about aspiration risk and comfort feeding in advanced dementia. American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, 36(11), 993-998. doi:10.1177/1049909119849003

Berkman, C. (Co-Principal Investigator), Stein, G. L. (Principal Investigator), "Experiences of LGBT patients and families in hospice and palliative care: Experiences of patients and partners," Borchard Foundation Center on Law and Aging, $20,000, 2021 to 202.

Berkman, C. (Co-Principal Investigator), Stein, G. L. (Principal Investigator), "Experiences of LGBT patients and families in hospice and palliative care:  The provider’s perspective", Borchard Foundation Center on Law and Aging, $20,000, 2018 to 2019.

Berkman, C. (Co-Principal Investigator), Pardasani, M. P. (Principal Investigator), "Friendly Visiting Program evaluation", New York City Department for the Aging, $90,000, 2017 to 2019.

Berkman, C. (Principal Investigator), Pardasani, M. P. (Co-Principal Investigator), "Geriatric mental health program evaluation", New York City Department for the Aging, $89,566, 2017 to 2019.

ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER, Educating Social Workers in Palliative and End-of-Life Care (ESPEC)

EDITORIAL BOARD, Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life & Palliative Care

BOARD MEMBER, Social Work Hospice and Palliative Care Network

Institutional Review Board (IRB) MEMBER, Fordham University

Fellow, Gerontological Society of America (GSA)
Fellow, New York Academy of Medicine
Fellow, Brookdale Center on Aging
NIMH Pre-Doctoral Fellowship, Yale University, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health
NIMH Post-Doctoral Fellowship, Columbia University, School of Public Health, Psychiatric Epidemiology Program