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Kirsti A. Dyer MD, MS, FT, CWS (a.k.a. Comfortdoc) is a respected physician, health educator, professor, grief, loss & bereavement expert, life challenges expert, author and former NICU Parent. She was the first physician to receive Fellow in Thanatology (Death, Dying and Bereavement) standing with the Association of Death Education and Counseling. Dr. Dyer is also a Certified Wellness Specialist.
Dr. Dyer is the Domain Designer for the Journey of Hearts website, created in 1997 as the first and only physician based website devoted to educating people about the normal grief response. She has presented scientific papers about her experiences with Journey of Hearts(tm) and the Medical Internet at several U.S. conferences and international conferences in London, England, Heidelberg, Germany and Victoria, Canada.
Dr. Dyer has lectured for Kaiser Permanente, March of Dimes, U.C. Berkeley Extension, American Institute of Medical Education, the California Hospice Foundation, American Medical Student Association, the California Maritime Academy, Columbia College and the Tuolumne County Medical Society. She has developed online courses for Madonna University's Bereavement Certificate Program, Columbia College, NICU Solutions and the University of Pittsburgh's Supercourse.
An avid writer, Dr. Dyer has had her articles published in a variety of medical journals, conference proceedings as well as in online sites. She has had profesional articles published in Neonatal Network, JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association), JMIR (Journal Medical Internet Research), WJM (Western Journal of Medicine), California Physician, American Journal of Medicine, Southern Medical Journal, Female Physician and Sacramento Medicine. In the online setting she has published articles for Squidoo.com, About.com as the Death, Dying & Bereavement Guide, the MedicalWellnessAssociation.com, Trauma Response - AAETS.org – American Association of Experts in Traumatic Stress, MomMD.com, Support4Change.com, LearningPlaceOnline.com, Type-A Mom.com, Foodiemama.com and NICUSolutions.com.
She writes in six different blogs depending on the topic. The Grief, Loss and Transitions Blog was created to accompany the Journey of Hearts site and the NICU Parent Support Blog to accompany the NICU Parent Support site, the site developed based on her NICU experiences with her youngest daughter. Most recently she has started Edublogs (Education Blog) to share her teaching experiences, Ruminations of an Online Instructor / MD, and also for her two classes Nutrition & Wellness - Bio 50 and the Grief, Loss & Bereavement Edublog. She also blogs about the environment, living green and her love of nature in My Green Doc Blog.
Since having her second daughter in March 2002, she has been on hiatus from practicing clinical medicine to be the primary caregiver for her two young daughters. She joined the faculty of Columbia College in 2004 as an Adjunct Faculty in the Biological Sciences Department where she currently teaches Nutrition and Wellness in person and online. In November 2006 Dr. Dyer joined the College of Nursing and Health department of Hospice and Palliative Studies at Madonna University as an Associate Adjunct Professor. She teaches an online Bereavement Course in Grieving Family Systems as part of their Graduate Education program's Certificate in Bereavement.