Advisory Council

Professor Taimie Bryant joined the UCLA Law School faculty in January of 1988, after earning a Ph.D. in anthropology from UCLA (1984) and a J.D. from Harvard Law School (1987). In 2016, she completed a Masters in Spiritual Psychology from the University of Santa Monica. Professor Bryant teaches courses about elder law, property law, animal law, and nonprofit organizations.  Her interest in aid in dying emerged from her interest in client-centered elder law, and her first encounter with the aid-in-dying movement was in 2014 when she visited Dignitas to learn of their approach. She is the author of an article on the availability of ideal medications for aid in dying and is currently writing about the role of aid-in-dying nonprofits in using and reforming laws pertaining to aid in dying.

Mr. Epstein is a California and Oregon licensed certified public accountant.  He attended the University of Oregon for his BA and Portland State University for his accounting degree. He had his own firm in Portland, OR for many years and specialized in a number of fields and is now mostly retired in California,  though takes care of a few clients when he isn’t playing golf. He is an advocate for personal freedom and believes in dignity for all and supports choice at the end of life. He brings his calm, methodical and kind support to our bookkeeping and accounting endeavors.

Susan recently retired after 28 years with Kaiser Permanente where she served as a Drug Education Coordinator and over 30 years practice experience in Clinical Pharmacy.  While at Kaiser Permanente, Susan managed quality and cost initiatives in drug use management, keeping patient safety at the forefront.  In her role, she has taught new pharmacists and pharmacists in training through the ASHP-approved residency program and Northern California schools of pharmacy.  

Susan also served as a primary consulting pharmacist in the California End of Life Act program for Kaiser Permanente Northern California since the law was enacted in 2016.  She has helped launch and improve the program within Kaiser Permanente and has been a National speaker at multiple End of Life conferences.  

Susan serves on the Advisory Council for End of Life Choices California and volunteers her time to support families throughout their exploration of choices at the end of their lives, including being with them on the day of ingestion.

She is a graduate of University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Pharmacy and completed two years of post-graduate training at UCSF in Clinical Residency and a second-year specialty residency in Pharmacy Administration.

Associate Clinical Professor (WOS) – UCSF
Assistant Clinical Professor, Adjunct Faculty – at both Touro University and California Northstate
University College of Pharmacy

Betsy Jacobson is a sociologist and published author of several articles on leadership, mentoring, storytelling, and career development in respected professional journals, and books. She is the founder of Betsy Jacobson Consulting (BJA Consulting). Since 1982, her company has provided a wide range of consulting, coaching, and customized training services to companies and governments around the globe. Additionally, she is the co-owner of ForAffect the Message Makers. www.foraffect.com, a small company that offers cutting-edge skills to rapidly engage listeners for optimal results when communicating ideas in business and daily life. Betsy’s expertise is creating strategies and innovative processes and interventions for communicating and implementing change. Among her clients, in both the public and private sector, she’s worked with Apple Computer, Citigroup Inc, The World Food Program, United Way of San Diego, The City of San Diego, San Diego Jewish Federation, and ABB (Asia Bavaria, Brown). 

Ms. Kiefaber, Executive Director of the Coastal Community Foundation in Encinitas, is a strategic planner, project manager, philanthropy teacher and fundraiser. She knows a little bit about so much and when she doesn’t, she is resourceful and seeks out skill sets in her team, giving them the help they need to grow, and adding good people including volunteers at levels of leadership and doing, as well as staff that can be trained and empowered to do their jobs. Lane has helped her husband achieve Captain in the Navy and Major Command and raised children while working full-time consulting the past ten+ years and been an executive prior to that in nonprofit and philanthropic organizations. She is ready to focus her energies with work to one mission and vision, complex as it may be. And to become part of a team of good people on the same path to doing something great in our community. She is a hard worker, a doer and high quality producer. Her main goal in life is to help others achieve their passions to do good and have fun with great people at the same time.

Mr. Leven was the Executive Director of End of Life Choices New York from 2002 until 2016 and now serves as Executive Director Emeritus and Senior Consultant for EOLCNY.   A leading advocate for patients and an expert on advance care planning, patient rights, palliative care and end-of-life issues, David has played a key role in having legislation introduced and enacted in New York to improve pain, palliative and end-of-life care, including the Palliative Care Information Act. David lectures frequently to diverse professional groups, students and citizens. A graduate of the University of Rochester and Syracuse University College of Law, he is the recipient of numerous awards including the Public Interest Law Award of the New York State Bar Association, Public Interest Law Committee.

A Seattle resident since 1978, Robb became the Executive Director of Compassion & Choices of Washington (C&C of WA, now known as End of Life Washington) in 2000 and has more than 30 years of administrative experience in both for-profit and nonprofit fields. He holds bachelors degrees in music theory and performance from Miami University and was a professional trumpet player for many years. READ MORE

Sue D. Porter, Founding Executive Director of End of Life Choices Oregon, has a Masters of Science in Bioethics and a Masters in Business Administration. She completed a diploma at the Yale Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics and was a scholar in residence at the Hastings Center for Bioethics Research in New York. Sue has also served as Director on both the National and the Oregon boards for Compassion and Choices.

Since 2001, Sue has worked with terminally ill people availing themselves of Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act.  Sue has spoken nationally on the right-to-die and was a participant in How to Die in Oregon, the documentary that won Sundance (2011).

Dr. Tom Preston is a retired cardiologist who lives in both Washington state and California.  He was one of the early pioneers of medical aid in dying in Washington and very instrumental in legislation being passed to allow medical aid in dying for the terminally ill.  He spent years traveling the state educating physicians and the public about end of life choice. As a part-time California resident in beautiful Palm Desert, he has joined End of Life Choices’ Advisory Council to provide his expertise, experience and wisdom to help educate physicians and the public in California.

Dr. Reagan is a retired family physician living in Portland, Oregon. His practice included hospital care, surgical assisting, pediatrics and obstetrics.

He was trained at Haverford College, with a BA Physics; Reed College in Portland with Master of Arts in Teaching, after which he taught high school in Portland and in Alaska. During this time and partly related to his Quaker upbringing, he became politically active in the movement to oppose the Vietnam War.  READ MORE

Dr. Bob Uslander practiced as an emergency room physician for 22 years prior to transitioning his career to providing geriatric, palliative and end of life care.  When California passed the End of Life Option Act in 2015, he educated himself and has supported many patients seeking guidance on their end of life decisions.  People began seeking him out when their own physicians did not have information or experience in medical aid in dying, or declined to participate. Dr. Bob has added this valuable service to his medical practice, while at the same time is committed to educating the community and health care providers about the law. His compassionate approach to patient care and his vast experience will help us continue to educate the public and physicians about all their end of life options, including medical aid in dying.