Dr. Joanne Cacciatore is an expert in traumatic loss and child death in families.  She is also a consummate teacher, researcher, and professional public speaker. 
 
Dr. Cacciatore is an Assistant Professor at Arizona State University. She received her baccalaureate degree in psychology and a Masters in Social Work at Arizona State University. She received her Doctorate of Philosophy in Human Sciences from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.  Dr. Cacciatore was awarded a Fellowship in Thanatology from the Association for Death Education and Counseling.  She is certified as a grief counselor.

She has a long-standing history working with and counseling families after a child’s death. In 1996, she founded the MISS Foundation, an international nonprofit organization, two years after the death of her newborn daughter, Cheyenne.

She initiated the first statewide multidisciplinary program on compassionate bereavement care and crisis intervention in Arizona. She currently serves on the Unexplained Infant Death Advisory Council, and she is founding member of the Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Foundation. She served at the Maricopa County Medical Examiner's Office as a Family Liaison from 1998 until 2004.

Dr. Cacciatore has taught for Glendale and Phoenix Fire Departments and at hundreds of conferences, including the National Perinatal Social Work Conference, Perinatal Bereavement Conference, National Compassionate Friends Conference, Forensic Medical Science Courses, Domestic Violence Prevention Conferences, and the Child Abuse Prevention National Conferences. She specializes in using humor and analogy to help others understand effective communication, intervention strategy, grief and bereavement, and palliative care. In 1997, she began the worldwide movement, The Kindness Project , featured on the Leeza Gibbons and Oprah Winfrey shows. 
    
One of her most acclaimed accomplishment came in 1999 when she spearheaded the "MISSing Angels"  bill campaign, lobbying the Arizona legislature on House Bill 2416. Since then, Dr. Cacciatore has been active in lobbying other states for this important change in public health policy as well as many others. Her work has been featured in People Magazine’s December 11, 2006 issue, January 15, 2007 issue, CNN, New York Times, Boston Globe, and many national newspapers and television shows.

On a personal note, she has been a vegetarian since 1980. Having many hobbies, she has her blue belt in Tae-Kwon-Do and Aikido and loves hiking, rock climbing, riding horses, running, and writing. Her heroes include mentor, Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, Mohandas Gandhi, and Käthe Kollwitz.  She has been recognized with many awards including the: Hon Kachina Community Service Award, Marquis Who’s Who and Who’s Who of Amerian Women Awards, Sr Teresa McIntier Compassionate Care Award, and the Hospice Woman of Influence Award.

If you ask her how many children she has, she'll reply, "I have four who walk and one who soars."