Nurturing the Next Generation of Spiritual Care Professionals

2020 Boisen Scholars Cohort

Sakinah Alhabshi was born and raised in the coastal town of Kuantan in Malaysia. She received a scholarship to Northwestern University, IL, for undergraduate studies in civil & environmental engineering (2000-2004), thereafter returning to Malaysia to work for a decade in the energy industry with experience in engineering, public affairs, international relations and corporate communication. 

Sakinah continued her education with an Advanced Diploma in Islamic Studies in Malaysia, and other forms of traditional Islamic studies of the Qur’an and Hadith (prophetic narrations) in Malaysia, Indonesia and Yemen. She also trained as a volunteer in coaching youth, counselling women, and in supporting palliative care patients of various faith backgrounds. She has experience in disaster-relief missions in Indonesia and Lebanon, providing first aid (medical and psychosocial) support to underserved communities. 

In 2018, Sakinah was appointed onto the Board of Directors for ZIYARA Muslim Spiritual Care, a California based non-profit led by Dr. Kamal Abu-Shamsieh, which provides spiritual care consultancy and educational training in the United States and in Muslim-majority countries worldwide. ZIYARA is partnering with ACPE in developing the first ACPE-accredited CPE program in Malaysia in 2020.  Sakinah is currently in her one-year CPE residency at Stanford Health Care, California, assigned to the Cardiovascular Thoracic, Intensive Care, Neurosurgery and Blood & Bone Marrow Transplant Units. She also assists with coordinating the Islamic chaplaincy volunteers and the No-One-Alone / No-One-Dies-Alone program. Sakinah embraces her spirituality through her connection with God, humanity, and God’s gift of nature through spending time outdoors, travelling, scuba diving, and cloud gazing.

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Krisha Arvin, M.Div., BCC-PCHAC is an APC Board Certified Chaplain and the first Chaplain in the state of Georgia to have received the APC Advanced Certification in Palliative Care and Hospice Chaplaincy. Krisha received her theological education at Candler School of Theology and graduated with Master of Divinity.  Krisha has worked as a hospice chaplain in Marietta and later returned to Emory where for the next 5 years she worked as the Palliative Care Chaplain for Emory University Hospital.  Krisha is also an ACPE Certified Educator Candidate, training and educating others in the work of Chaplaincy.  In 2018, Krisha joined the Palliative Care team at Grady Memorial Hospital. Krisha is from Augusta, Georgia (by way of Millen, Georgia her “home-home” town). Krisha is the wife of a Librarian and the mother of two young boys.  In what  “free time” she has, she spends it binging Netflix shows with hubby, playing games and shenanigans with the boys, loving on the pets (“Icee” the cat, “Coco” the little dog, and “Cookie” the bigger dog), and refurbishing old things into like-new condition.

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Quanita (Q.) Hailey is an alum of Mount Holyoke College and Union Theological Seminary where she received her Master of Divinity with a focus in Womanist Queer Ethics. Lovingly, nicknamed Q, she current serves as a Chaplain resident at New York Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital. She is the creator of the Women of Color Trailblazers Leadership Conference at Mount Holyoke College. Q is a lover of her family, the Concord Baptist Church of Christ, and a peer advocate. She can be found dreaming up new creative convening ideas for FreeXone 4 Us, a free QTPOC communal space that seeks to evoke the sacred and promote healing.

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Jeremiah Page is a father of four teenagers (Jaden 17, Kyla 15, Eli 13, & Kamiah 12). Jeremiah is a native of Columbia, SC and a graduate of Columbia International University. He holds two master’s degrees equivalent to a Master’s of Divinity. Jeremiah is studying at an ACPE facility to become a Certified Chaplain Educator. He is passionate about his career and he enjoys building relationships and witnessing growth in student chaplains. Jeremiah is an avid reader and enjoys spending time with his family to include his three-year old American Pit bull Terrier named Domino. Jeremiah loves being present with the ocean and much of nature. His dream is to teach chaplain students how to give spiritual care in the clinical setting and to teach Ethics in a Medical School associated with the hospital.

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Enver Rahmanov was born in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan and studied in Kiev, Ukraine before moving to the United States soon after the collapse of the USSR in 1995. Both of his parents were educators who influenced his passion for learning, exploration and understanding. After working as a diplomat at the United Nations in New York, Enver decided to go back to graduate school and eventually moved to California, working for several humanitarian nonprofit organizations in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Berkeley. Enver received two graduate degrees: Master of Theological Studies from Pacific of Religion, and a joint Master of Arts in Interreligious Studies from the Graduate Theological Union and the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University in Berkeley. During his studies, Enver also volunteered at the Tibetan Aid Project and as Contributing Editor to the State of Formation, an offshoot of the Journal of Interreligious Studies (JIRS). Enver has been inspired by the Dalai Lama’s ethics beyond religion and his call for education of the heart by bringing the indispensability of inner values of love, compassion, justice, and forgiveness into education. Prior to joining the CPE program at USCF, Enver worked for five years as Hospice Volunteer Program Coordinator with Maitri Compassionate Care, a respite care facility for people living with AIDS in San Francisco, and Sutter Care at Home in San Mateo.  Enver recognizes his true calling to be a Chaplain and he is grateful for the excellent training as Chaplain Resident at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital.  

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The Rev. Lauri Ann Swann, D.Min, Chaplain (Clinical Pastoral Training)/Certified Education Candidate was ordained in the Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME) church as a travelling elder in full connection.  Lauri has completed seven units of Clinical Pastoral Education (one unit at Sibley Memorial Hospital, Johns Hopkins Medicine and six at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital. Lauri also serves as part-time chaplain at Spring Grove Hospital Center where her primary focus is patient support for over 175 out of 340 patients and serving as team member for the Spring Grove Hospital Center Trauma Support Team.   Prior to chaplaincy, Lauri held various ministerial positions from pastor to Chair for Missions and Concerns, Washington/Virginia Region of the NY-Washington Conference where she implemented the first partnership between the CME church, Washington/Virginia District and the American Red Cross. While serving in her ministerial capacity, Lauri also worked as the Assistant National Collections Coordinator for the Smithsonian Institution where she chaired the African American Collections Survey Project.  Lauri is also a writer. Some of her writings can be found in the 2016 Common English Women’s Bible published by Abingdon Press.  Rev. Dr. Lauri A. Swann holds a Bachelor of Arts from Syracuse University (Art History); a Masters of Arts from The George Washington University (Museum Studies); and, a  Masters of Divinity and Doctorate of Divinity from Wesley Theological Seminary. Her doctoral project: Sex Trafficking within the Washington, D.C. Black Church Community: A Call and Response. A native New Yorker, Rev. Dr. Swann resides in Fort Washington, Maryland with her husband of 19 years, Kevin and their three children, Matthew, Joshua, and Hannah.