About Dr. Whitmore
Featured Media
Psychedelic Nursing: Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy to Help Seriously Ill Individuals Cope and Find Peace
In this OPENurses conversation with Andrew Penn, RN, NP, CNS, PMHNP-BC, I discuss my path into hospice and palliative care, the impact of my training with my Tibetan meditation teachers, the role of meaning and dignity during serious illness, ensuring that the HIV+ community are included and cared for within these novel interventions, and the emerging research landscape around psychedelic-assisted therapy in palliative care.
From Anxiety to Acceptance: Psychedelics and the Hospice and Palliative Journey
In this episode of HPNA’s Palliative Perspective Podcast, I speak with host Brett Snodgrass, DNP, FNP-C, ACHPN, FAANP about hospice and palliative care, existential distress, death acceptance, and the emerging research on psychedelic-assisted therapy in serious illness.
Dr. Hannah Whitmore, PhD, RN, CHPN, is a certified hospice and palliative-care nurse, clinician-scientist, and advocate for patient-centered care. She provides private consultation, education, and care-navigation support to help individuals, families, clinicians, and organizations approach serious illness and end-of-life decisions with greater clarity and confidence.
With more than a decade of interdisciplinary experience, Dr. Whitmore has supported individuals, families, and care teams through serious illness and end-of-life transitions. Her experience spans home hospice, hospital, skilled nursing, and clinical research settings.
Dr. Whitmore helps clients and care teams make sense of serious illness, clarify what matters most, and approach difficult conversations and decisions with greater understanding and support. Her nearly twenty years of mindfulness meditation training inform a steady, presence-centered approach to conversations about illness, caregiving, dying, and loss.
As a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, San Francisco, her research examines innovative approaches to end-of-life care, including research on psychedelic-assisted therapy for demoralization and existential distress, with particular attention to trauma-informed care and the needs of people living with HIV.
Research Publications
Whitmore H, Anderson BT, Flowers E, Penn A, Leutwyler H. Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy for Death Acceptance in Terminal Illness: A Scoping Review. 2026.
Article Link:
Whitmore H, Hubbard E, Cooper B, Leutwyler H. Randomized controlled trial of a group-based smoking cessation intervention for adults with serious mental illness. Nicotine Tob Res. 2026 May 17;ntag110. doi:10.1093/ntr/ntag110
Article Link:
https://academic.oup.com/ntr/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ntr/ntag110/8679982?login=false
Whitmore H, Mangini M, Leutwyler H, Anderson B. Facing Mortality Together: A Constructivist Grounded Theory Analysis of Group Psilocybin Therapy Among Older Long-Term AIDS Survivor Gay Men. Palliative Medicine Reports. 2026 Jan 1;7:26892820251401798. doi:10.1177/26892820251401798
Article Link:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/26892820251401798
Whitmore HR. Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy for Death Acceptance in Serious Illness: A Mixed Methods Secondary Analysis [Internet]. UCSF; 2024.
Dissertation link: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8rw6r5dm