Susan Hedlund, LCSW, has spent more than three decades at the heart of health care—walking alongside patients and families at some of the most vulnerable points in their lives. Today, as Director of the Supportive Care Initiative at the Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation, she is helping to make supportive care a routine part of serious illness, so that no one has to face it without the resources and compassion they need.
Who Is Susan Hedlund?
Susan began her career as a hospital social worker, covering everything from the ER to the ICU. Over time, she gravitated toward oncology because it allowed her to build ongoing relationships. “In those years, cancer patients stayed in the hospital a really long time,” she recalls. “I got to know them well. I really loved having those longer-term relationships.”
She went on to lead Patient and Family Services at the Knight Cancer Institute at OHSU, taught in the OHSU School of Medicine, and served as an associate professor at Portland State University’s Graduate School of Social Work. She also shared her expertise in the University of Washington’s palliative care certificate program, training the next generation of clinicians.
Her work has been recognized nationally. Susan is a past president of the Association of Oncology Social Work (AOSW), has served on the board of the American Psychosocial Oncology Society (APOS), and in 2024 received AOSW’s Leadership in Oncology Social Work Award.
What Is Supportive Care—and Why It Matters
Susan defines supportive care as whole-person care—meeting the emotional, psychological, social, and practical needs of people living with serious illness, alongside their medical treatment:
“Supportive care is the broader umbrella of things that are non-medical—patient and family counseling, nutritional support, mindfulness-based stress reduction, integrative medicine services, things patients and families can pick and choose depending on their situation to ease the burden of illness.”
That extra layer of support is what helps patients and families feel less alone, more informed, and better equipped to live with illness.
Support for Families and Caregivers
Susan is clear that supportive care isn’t just for patients, “We have to support our family caregivers up front, not wait until we’re discharging somebody and saying, good luck.”
The numbers are sobering: 63 million Americans are unpaid family caregivers, providing work valued at over $600 billion each year. Without adequate training, financial support, or workplace flexibility, caregivers often pay the price with their own health and financial stability.
“If we give them support, give them resources, not only can we reduce caregiver burden, but we may reduce complicated grief,” Susan explains. Without it, families often carry “what-ifs” that deepen sorrow after a loss.
For more on how caregiving intersects with grief, see our conversation with Deb Whitman and our research on Death on Television: Flipping the Script, which shows how culture influences caregiving and end-of-life narratives.
Supportive Care and Cancer Treatment
Supportive care, Susan insists, should be woven directly into oncology; by providing psychosocial and practical support, it helps patients feel better, reduces avoidable hospital visits, and even lowers costs.
“Healthcare has become so fragmented,” she explains. “Medical care only contributes to about 11% of overall health and wellness. If we’re putting all our resources into that and not enough into everything else, we’re not going to move the needle very far.”
The Biller Family Foundation’s Role in Supportive Care
At the Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation, Susan leads efforts to make supportive care a standard part of cancer care nationwide. The foundation funds pilot programs, builds business cases for insurers, and convenes the Together for Supportive Cancer Care coalition to expand access.
“We’ve proven it leads to better quality of life, patients are happier, sometimes they even live longer—but they definitely live better,” she says. “And guess what? It’s less expensive, too.”
For End Well, this work echoes our belief that every person deserves dignity, love, and choice at during times of serious illness and at the end of life. See also: Changing the Channel on Death white paper, which explores how cultural portrayals can expand these possibilities.
Stories That Ground the Work
Despite decades in leadership, Susan stays rooted in the personal. She shares the story of a ten-year-old named Emily, whose mother was dying of cancer. Emily didn’t want to talk about it, or so Susan thought, until one day she left Susan a handwritten note:
“I like to talk to you because you’re nice and you know what the answers are.”
Susan keeps that framed note it in her office. “It is my North Star,” she says. “On my worst days, that’s what I look at. It reminds me why I do this work.”
The Future of Supportive Care
Susan is realistic about the challenges—strained health systems, caregiver burnout, the ongoing crises of trust and cost—but she is also hopeful.
“There’s momentum in this direction,” she insists. “If we can break down silos, work together across sectors, and make supportive care the standard of care, we can turn what feels overwhelming into something more humane, sustainable, and even beautiful.”