Full Bio/Curriculum Vitae: PDF Format
Ann Jackson began her career with hospice and end of life care 30 years ago. She currently facilitates conversations among individuals and families who are making decisions for themselves or loved ones about choices at the end-of-life, now and in the future; consults with boards and administrators in developing organizational policy about end-of-life choices; and provides expertise to governmental and legislative bodies who are wrestling with end-of-life policy and law.
In her role as executive director and chief executive officer of the Oregon Hospice Association (OHA), she was its spokesperson. OHA is a 501(c)(3) charitable, not-for-profit organization whose goal is to make sure that all Oregonians can have excellent care as they—or their loved ones—approach the end of life. Jackson retired from OHA in 2008, after 20 years
Her role then, and now as an unaffiliated authority, is to write and present, openly and honestly, factbased information about Oregon's role as a "laboratory" of the states—a role assigned to it in 1997 when the United States Supreme Court referred the issue of aid-in dying to the states (Washington v Glucksberg). Oregon became the first jurisdiction in the world to adopt medical aid-in-dying as a legal option in 1997, when voters defeated an effort to repeal 1994’s Death with Dignity Act.
Jackson writes and talks about what really happens in Oregon. She frequently works with policy- and decision-makers in states and countries that are considering medical aid in dying. She is a coinvestigator of research looking at hospice workers’ experiences with people who consider hastening death or using Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act, and the effectiveness of POLST in hospice and nursing home settings.
Ann has participated in numerous state, national, and federal task forces over the years seeking to improve quality of care at the end of life. Among these are Physicians Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment Task Force (POLST) beginning at its inception in 1991, representing the Oregon Hospice Association, and currently as an ex officio member; and the Task Force to Improve Care of Terminally Ill Oregonians, from its inception in 1994 until it completed its agenda in 2009. The Center for Ethics at Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU) convened both task forces.
More recently, Jackson participated on the Physician Aid-in-Dying Guideline Committee, convened by Compassion and Choices in 2012. The Journal of Palliative Medicine published the clinical practice guidelines for physicians in December 2015.
Before working at OHA, Jackson was with The Hallock Agency, an advertising and public relations firm, where she developed marketing and organizational strategies for public and nonprofit organizations. She is a former political consultant and educator, and has been involved in the health care community for many years.
