Our Team

The deaths of her husband and her mother within the last several years bring Rebecca to this work. These very different experiences taught her that how we approach end of life has a profound affect on those around us, as well as on ourselves. She is committed to encouraging people to face death with openness and honesty, so they may live fully. She also knows how challenging this can be.

Rebecca has served NH as a journalist, editor, community activist, two-term state representative, and as founder and director of the Ammonoosuc Conservation Trust, the North Country’s regional, community-based lands conservancy.

Rebecca is certified as an end-of-life doula through the University of Vermont , and earned a certificate in Integrated Thanatology at the New York Open Center. She is an Interfaith Spiritual Counselor, educated through One Spirit in New York. She has served on many nonprofit and civic boards, and has started and operated both nonprofit and for-profit businesses.

Bradley is a physician in the Section of Palliative Medicine at Dartmouth Health in Lebanon, where he works in the outpatient clinic and directs New Hampshire’s only hospital inpatient palliative care unit, The Jack Byrne Center for Palliative and Hospice Care.  He is also an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College. He completed his fellowship in hospice and palliative medicine at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. Before that, he trained in Family Medicine in Ohio. He also holds a graduate degree in health policy from The George Washington University in Washington, DC and continues to be engaged with both state and federal policy initiatives, including serving on the Public Policy Committee for the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine and several legislative committees throughout New Hampshire. He is board-certified in Hospice and Palliative Medicine and Family Medicine, and is a Certified Hospice Medical Director.

Brad is passionate about ensuring access to high-quality hospice and palliative care throughout Northern New England. His support for access to medical aid in dying comes from countless conversations with New Hampshire patients and family members interested in this option when suffering from a terminal illness. He has witnessed too many of his New Hampshire patients having to leave their homes and communities to travel to Vermont to obtain this compassionate and fundamental option. He believes that patients should have the freedom and autonomy to make the most important decisions about their health.

Peter is a recently-retired Unitarian Universalist minister who moved to Keene with his wife Irene in the summer of 2021. Peter practiced law in Portland, Maine for nearly 20 years before heeding his call to ministry. For 16 years he served the Unitarian Universalist Church of Delaware County in Media, Pa. As a minister he has pastored countless individuals facing serious health challenges, many of whom were forced to face end-of-life decisions.

Peter has walked the path of grief and loss beside families whose loved ones were denied the right to choose how and when their lives would end. He is deeply committed to principles of personal autonomy and freedom of choice in all health care decisions.

As he contemplated his impending retirement in the spring of 2022, Peter had a vision of his own death, wherein he exercised his right to medical aid in dying. That vision led him to NH Options and his commitment to support its mission

Dr. Sobelson has been a family physician in Concord since 1984 and remains in active clinical practice. He has served in leadership positions as president of the New Hampshire Academy of Family Physicians and New Hampshire Medical Society, where he continues to advocate for medical justice and health care reform. He has served on other non-profit boards, including ACLU-NH, Havenwood-Heritage Heights CCRC, and Temple Beth Jacob, and has served on several NH Legislative Commissions. He was honored as the 2023 New Hampshire Family Physician of the Year.

As a seasoned clinician, his professional opportunities have greatly broadened his life experiences ranging from grandson to grandfather, from spouse to friend, and inform his strong support for efforts to allow Medical Aid in Dying to find legal footing in New Hampshire.

Mary’s commitment to the work of the Alliance stems from the experience of her husband’s journey with terminal cancer, as well as decades of work in ministry and social work accompanying people through their end-of-life times.

Mary is an ordained minister of the United Church of Christ, and has served in parish, hospital and hospice settings. She retired from active professional ministry in 2018 to care for her beloved spouse, Bob. Bob sought treatment for his cancer, enduring many difficult side effects in an ardent effort to seek a cure. Ultimately, his illness was terminal and caused many devastating challenges, including uncontrolled pain, losing the ability to speak, loss of the ability to eat or drink by mouth, sudden fainting episodes, a frequently clogged tracheostomy tube, and overwhelming fatigue. For these reasons, Bob wanted the option of medical aid in dying. However, this fundamental right of self-determination was not available to him in New Hampshire. Despite the fact that Bob had hospice care at home, his death was traumatic.

Mary serves on the Spiritual Nurture Ministry Team at Community Church of Durham, UCC, and greatly enjoys spending time with her adult children, their spouses, her grandchildren and her friends. She is involved in a variety of social justice activities. She loves gardening, hiking, cross country skiing, reading, and taking long walks.

In her husband’s honor, and with the hope that others who wish to do so will be able to have peaceful deaths on their own terms, Mary feels privileged to join in the work of the Alliance.

Marianne Jackson, M.D., served New Hampshire’s North Country as an Ob-Gyn for 25 years before leaving to complete a master’s degree in public health at the University of North Carolina. There she worked in patient safety and quality improvement until returning to the Mount Washington Valley in 2015. She was the Executive director of the Gibson Center for Senior Services for 3 years and has now retired to Durham, North Carolina.

Marianne continues to be active in New Hampshire. She is dedicated to making conversations about end-of-life decision making a natural and comfortable topic for families. She has presented “The Natural Causes of Death,” promoting informed-decision making in end-of-life choices.  She serves on the state’s Health Care Decisions Coalition which is part of the Foundation for Healthy Communities. She is also an Advisor to the Endowment for Health.

She is pleased to be an advisor to NH Options with other very talented and experienced advocates.

Mark Kaplan is a retired executive with decades of experience across media, finance, and innovation. He began his career as a broadcast journalist before earning a MBA, leading him into business. He spent several years in investment management, before transitioning into social impact venture capital and entrepreneurial ecosystem development.

While living in Maine, Mark served for over a decade at CEI Ventures, investing in mission-driven startups and helping build the state’s innovation economy. After relocating to New Hampshire, Mark led a turnaround of the New Hampshire Innovation and Commercialization Center, creating Alpha Loft, an organization supporting early-stage ventures, university spinouts, and student entrepreneurship. He later served as interim CEO at New Hampshire Public Radio.

Mark’s parents were believers in and supporters of the right to die, which informed his views. When his father became largely incapacitated due to a fall at the age of 92, Mark supported his decision to use VSED to end his life. While Mark had long been carrying an interest in the right to die movement, after his father’s death he sought out and became actively involved with NHAELO.

Newly relocated to the Upper Valley in NH, Linda has enjoyed a rich and varied career with work experience in Finance, clinical and corporate Medicine, and Operations for her family’s entrepreneurial food venture. Retired now, Linda has volunteered with homeless women at Mary’s Place in Seattle teaching group programs to support their health, education and personal safety; served as Treasurer and Board Member of Friends of the Library in Bainbridge Island, Washington; taught English as a second language (ESL) to immigrants in DC with the Washington English Center; and served with the DC Medical Reserve Corps during COVID.

She believes deeply in the power and importance of life’s biggest transitions and hopes to empower people by bringing end of life planning conversations to the mainstream. She has earned a certificate in Care Management from the University of WA, earned an End of Life Doula certificate from the University of VT and certified as a program facilitator with Before I Go Solutions. Having most recently lived in states/districts where MAiD is a legal option for eligible citizens, Linda is excited to join this talented and dedicated group of advocates to help bring MAiD legislation to NH and expand the end of life options available to the strong and independent citizens of NH.

While end of life planning and education is her work interest, Linda enjoys most things physical activity (but especially running), doing just about anything with George (her husband of 38 years), her 3 “kids” (now very adult and living in NY) and her 3 favorite “grandcats”,

As a young nurse in New York City in the 1980s, Ed saw many friends and many more patients die from AIDS. It shaped his commitment to improving quality at end of life.

Ed and his husband left their city careers and moved to New Hampshire in 1993 to run the Notchland Inn, a beloved White Mountains inn and restaurant. You can find Ed there, sometimes in the kitchen and often in the office. Despite the demands of a year-round hospitality business, Ed served six terms as a NH State Representative, where he chaired the Commerce Committee for three terms.

ED received a Bachelor’s in Nursing from Boston University, a Master’s in Nursing Administration from New York University, and a state license as a Nursing Home Administrator.

End of life issues have always been of interest to Ed, and reinforced by his nursing career. Ed was named the 2021 Legislator of the Year by the NH Disability Rights Council.

Val is the founder and executive director of Maine Death with Dignity, a 501(c)(3) non-profit established in 2014.

The overall mission of Maine Death with Dignity is providing services, education, and end-of-life advocacy to people who wish to actively explore the meaning of life through embracing the certainty of death.

From 2013 through 2019, Val organized and led Maine’s grassroots effort to pass a medical-aid-in-dying law. The Maine Death with Dignity Act went into effect on September 19, 2019. Val mentors and collaborates with grassroots leaders in other states still trying to pass this legislation.

Among other end-of-life topics, Val educates on the history of medical assistance in dying in the U.S., how the laws work, and the eligibility requirements for receiving life-ending medication a terminally ill patient may take on their own to end their life peacefully and humanely at a time of their own choosing.

She is the mother of three adult children and an accomplished artist. When she isn’t “doing death stuff” (her son’s description), she spends her time enjoying two amazing grandsons and working on a variety of creative projects.

Val is a retired Navy veteran of 20 years. She holds a Master of Science degree in human relations from Husson University in Bangor, Maine, and a B.S. in industrial technology from the University of Southern Maine.

Val received ordination in June, 2022 from the Chaplaincy Institute of Maine.

Brent is a proponent of Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD) because he believes that a human being should have the right to control, as much as possible, how they live and how they die. He has spent his career as a critical care and palliative care provider assisting patients and their loved ones as they grapple with end-of-life decision making. When someone is dying or confronting a terminal illness, suffering and quality of life are among the most common factors mentioned and assessed in the calculus of living and dying.

Brent’s hope is that MAiD can be an option for residents of New Hampshire as a means for self-determination at the end of life, if suffering becomes a burden greater than the desire to live. He wants to have this legal option for himself, his family, his patients, and his fellow citizens, just as our neighbors in Maine and Vermont. Brent recently completed a fellowship in Bioethics at Harvard University and chairs his hospital’s Ethics Committee. Brent lives in Chester.

Sandy is a retired clinical psychologist with a long career in NH, both in clinical practice and as a leader in policy and advocacy. She learned that patient advocacy requires professional advocacy in order to overcome obstacles, such as insurance or regulatory barriers to care.  Sandy became familiar with the workings of the NH Legislature and the process of advancing bills and lobbying for issues that are important for patients and the field of mental health generally.
Sandy also lives with a rare genetic disease. Her experience of this condition also informs her advocacy. She is resolved to help ensure that she and others can have a better understanding of their conditions and greater influence in their care. This includes the ability to communicate what is important, how to weigh costs and benefits in decision making, and have the means to know all the options available for a truly informed choice. Knowing her condition has the potential for an extremely debilitating and painful course, she wants the option of MAiD in New Hampshire for herself and others who may be suffering.
She believes that patient-centered care requires patients to have the autonomy to know and choose how they will die, and to do so without suffering.
Sandy lives in Madbury, New Hampshire.

Betsy McConnell is a retired psychotherapist who has recently taken up full time residence in Sugar Hill.

Betsy worked as an intern in a hospital setting, and she has had private practices in New York City, Boston, Seattle, and Pittsburgh. She has deep regard for the stories that animate people’s lives and especially how they confront illness, death, and loss. They’ve motivated her to try to help reduce the trauma that can be accompany these challenges, and help people find meaning in the midst of loss that makes life worth living.

Betsy has been an active participant in the Episcopal Church. Betsy and her husband, Dorsey, have helped support Pilgrim Africa by teaching and offering trauma training in Uganda since 2007.

Betsy has enjoyed camping and sea kayaking in British Columbia, and loves hiking and cross-country skiing in the White Mountains. She has a reverence for this region and the people who live here.

After raising her family in Portsmouth, Martha returned to her native North Country home in Franconia so her elderly mother could remain in her own home. Her experience caring for her mother, and witnessing her mother’s decision to stop eating and drinking, motivated Martha to help create the Alliance.

Martha is the community engagement coordinator for the NH Alliance for Healthy Aging (AHA) where she engages, trains, and mobilizes older adults in advocacy efforts to improve healthy aging in New Hampshire. She is also consultant to nonprofits, providing technical assistance in the areas of collaborative planning, project management, resource development, and grant writing and review.

Martha has a 30-year career in community and public health, including as the executive director of a rural health network, and as a nutrition consultant in the state’s Division of Public Health Services. Martha served as a state representative for two terms. She has served on numerous boards of community organizations.

Robb has spent the past 20+ years as an activist for better end-of-life care and expanded choice, including medical aid in dying.

With advanced degrees in applied science and kinesiology, and American College of Sports Medicine certification, he started his career working as an athletic director and kinesiologist.

After witnessing his father and his own long-time partner experience bad deaths in the mid 1990s, Robb embarked on a new career in end-of-life advocacy. He became executive director of the organization now known as End of Life Washington (EOLWA), which he led from 2000 – 2015. Robb was a leader and spokesperson for the initiative to pass the Washington Death with Dignity Act, which received nearly 60 percent of the vote in 2009.

Robb is the author of several groundbreaking advance planning documents, including EOLWA’s Hospital Visitation Authorization for LGBTQ people, a comprehensive Living Will and Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare that set a new standard for advance planning documents in Washington, and two first-of-their kind advance planning tools for people with Alzheimer’s and dementia: the “Living With Dementia Mental Health Directive” and “My Instructions for Oral Feeding and Drinking.”

Currently, Robb is executive director emeritus of EOLWA and serves on its public policy and legal committee. He is a member of the National Voluntary Stopping Eating Drinking Advance Directive Committee. In addition to working with NH Options, he is an advisor to Arizona End of Life Options, End of Life Choices California, and the New Zealand Ministry of Health.