Leadership

Pamela Edwards

Chief Clinical Officer

As chief clinical officer, Edwards oversees the practices of the clinicians on Agrace’s interdisciplinary teams that provide hospice care in private homes, long-term care facilities, Agrace’s two hospice inpatient units and its hospice residence. Edwards joins Agrace from a nonprofit hospice in Pensacola, Fla., Covenant Hospice, for which she served as vice president of clinical services. Prior to her hospice career, Edwards served in the U.S Army Nurse Corps for nine years, achieving the rank of Major.

Julia Houck

Chief Administrative Officer

As chief administrative officer for Agrace, Houck oversees outreach, admissions, palliative care, human resources and volunteer services. She joined Agrace in 2009 as vice president, human resources.  Prior to employment with Agrace, she held executive level positions at Cogdell Spencer ERDMAN, Marshall Erdman & Associates and Edward Kraemer & Sons, Inc.  Houck holds a master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a bachelor’s degree from Edgewood College and holds PHR (Professional in Human Resources) certification.

Jennifer Maurer

Chief Financial Officer

In her role as the chief financial officer, Jennifer Maurer oversees the finance and purchasing departments at Agrace. She was previously the vice president of finance at Natus Medical, Inc., a neuro diagnostic and monitoring equipment manufacturer. Maurer’s career includes experience in medical device manufacturing for GE Healthcare as well as work for Johnson Controls. She is a Wisconsin Licensed CPA and received her accounting degree from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

Brian Tennant

Chief Information Officer

In his role as chief information officer, Tennant is responsible for strategic direction and operational oversight for information technology and health information management (HIM). In addition, Tennant also oversees marketing & communications and spiritual & grief counseling services. Prior to Agrace, he served as vice president–information services at Bethesda Lutheran Communities, a national nonprofit organization serving people with developmental disabilities, and in a variety of consulting management positions at Berbee Information Networks Corporation (now CDW). Tennant graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison with a master’s in business administration–accounting & information systems and a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering.

Marcia Whittington

Chief Development Officer

In her role as Chief Development Officer, Marcia Whittington is responsible for providing overall leadership and direction to the Agrace Foundation which includes implementation, coordination and evaluation of the agency’s fund development programs. These programs encompass annual appeals, planned giving, capital campaigns, grants, special events and corporate donor development. Whittington has more than 20 years of development and fundraising experience within the Greater Madison non-profit community. Most recently, she served as the Vice President of Institutional Advancement for Edgewood College.

Dr. Bruce Agneberg

Hospice/Palliative Physician

Bruce Agneberg, MD, has been with Agrace since 2007. He began his career in family practice, and became a hospice medical director in 1987 in Minneapolis. Before joining Agrace, he was a medical director with Hospice and Palliative Care Partners of Ohio in Cleveland. Dr. Agneberg earned his medical degree from Saint Louis University School of Medicine, St. Louis.

Dr. Tony Braus

Hospice/Palliative Physician

Anthony Braus, MD, joined Agrace in 2012. He is board certified in geriatrics and psychiatry. Dr. Braus practiced hospital-based psychiatry for more than 20 years, primarily at the William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital in Madison. He regularly consults with staff caring for Agrace hospice and palliative care patients who have forms of dementia and other psychiatric conditions. Dr. Braus received his medical degree from Michigan State University.

Dr. Tim Brieske

Hospice/Palliative Physician

Tim Brieske, MD, joined Agrace in 2017. He began his career as a medic in the U.S. Army before earning his medical degree from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. He completed his residency in Family Medicine at Ventura County Medical Center in Ventura, California. Prior to joining Agrace, Dr. Brieske served as a full spectrum Family Medicine physician at medical centers in Alaska, Wisconsin and California. Most recently, he served as a physician and educator at the Chopra Center for Wellbeing in Carlsbad, California.

Dr. Terry Clarbour

Hospice/Palliative Physician

Terry Clarbour, MD, joined Agrace in 2017. She is board certified in internal medicine and hospice and palliative medicine, with qualifications in geriatric medicine. She completed a geriatric research fellowship at Loyola University/Hines VA, in Maywood, Ill., and has spent the past 15 years practicing geriatric medicine. Most recently, she served as a hospice physician for Rainbow Hospice in Mount Prospect, Ill.

Dr. Winny Hung

Hospice/Palliative Physician

Winny Hung, MD, joined Agrace in 2014. She is board certified in emergency medicine. Before joining Agrace, Dr. Hung practiced emergency medicine in Milwaukee, Minnesota and Rhode Island for 12 years. Dr. Hung completed her residency at Brown University and received her medical degree from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

Dr. Kimberly Kopecky

Hospice/Palliative Physician

Kimberly Kopecky, MD, joined Agrace in 2017. She received her medical degree from Harvard Medical School and completed a hospice and palliative medicine fellowship at the University of Wisconsin Hospital/VA Hospital in Madison. She is also completing a general surgery residency at Stanford Hospital and Clinics in Palo Alto, California. She has co-facilitated several research projects on palliative and end-of-life care through UW Hospitals and Clinics and Stanford Hospitals and Clinics.

Dr. Bernard Micke

Hospice/Palliative Physician

Bernard Micke, MD, joined Agrace in 1996. Dr. Micke practiced family medicine in Madison for several decades before coming to Agrace, where he helped our organization grow and gain the respect of patients, families and medical professionals in the communities Agrace serves. He serves on the Meriter Hospital Ethics Committee and is a graduate of the Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.

Dr. Richard Nunez Lopez

Hospice/Palliative Physician

Richard Nunez Lopez, MD, joined Agrace in 2016. He is board certified in hospice and palliative medicine. Dr. Nunez Lopez completed his residency in internal medicine in 2014, and a fellowship in hospice and palliative medicine in 2016, both at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County/Rush University Medical Center, Chicago.

Dr. Sandhya Shah

Hospice/Palliative Physician

Sandhya Shah, MD, joined Agrace in 2016. She holds hospice medical director certification and has more than 25 years’ experience as a hospitalist, internist and emergency physician with clinics and small hospitals across southern Wisconsin, including Sauk Prairie Health Care and Gunderson Lutheran Clinic. Dr. Shah received her medical degree from the American University of the Caribbean and her undergraduate degree from Penn State.

Dr. MJ Shah

Hospice/Palliative Physician

MJ (Mindy) Shah, MD, joined Agrace in 2015. She is board certified in hospice and palliative medicine, as well as in geriatrics. Before coming to Agrace, she worked in Rochester, N.Y., in hospice and long-term care. She is a graduate of the University of Rochester School of Medicine, where she also completed a palliative care fellowship.

Dr. Ali Siddiqui

Hospice/Palliative Physician

Ali Siddiqui, MD, joined Agrace in 2016. He is board certified in family medicine, and hospice and palliative medicine. Before coming to Agrace, he was a staff physician for palliative care and inpatient hospice services with UnityPoint Health­–Methodist Hospital in Peoria, Ill.

Dr. David Watts

Hospice/Palliative Physician

David Watts, MD, joined Agrace in 2016. He is board certified in internal medicine and geriatric medicine, and was a faculty physician in the UW Division of Geriatrics in Madison from 1984 to 2016. Dr. Watts was named one of Madison’s “Top Docs” six times, and was named a “Patient Experience Champion” with UW Health in 2015. He received his medical degree from the University of Washington.

Dr. Karuna Spiegelman

Hospice/Palliative Physician

Karuna Spiegelman, MD, joined Agrace in 2017. She is board certified in internal medicine and integrative holistic medicine, and completed a fellowship in hospice and palliative care in Pennsylvania in 2016. Dr. Spiegleman has been a hospitalist with Meriter UnityPoint Health in Madison for more than 10 years, and served on Meriter Hospital’s Medical Ethics Advisory Committee for nine years. In addition to English, she also speaks French, Russian and French Creole. She is proficient in Hindi and has a basic knowledge of medical Spanish.

Dr. KJ Williams

Hospice/Palliative Physician

KJ Williams, MD,  joined Agrace in 2010. She is board certified in hospice and palliative medicine, having completed a fellowship in palliative medicine at the Marshfield Clinic, Marshfield, Wis., in 2004.

Dr. Bill Rock

Medical Director, Emeritus

William Rock, MD, began making house calls to patients for HospiceCare Inc. in 1980, and in 1984 he was hired as our first medical director. Widely known in the Madison medical community, Dr. Rock has dedicated his career to educating colleagues, patients, families and the public on topics related to death and dying. He has shared his time generously to help people become comfortable with these key concepts: that death is a part of life and that a life can be lived fully to its end.

A lifelong learner, Dr. Rock was certified in 2008 by the American Board of Medical Specialties in hospice and palliative medicine, then a newly recognized subspecialty. Upon his retirement from Agrace in 2011, he was named our first medical director emeritus.