Jahnna Beecham most recently edited National Geographic's Science Encyclopedia, which was released in the fall of 2016, and was a contributing editor for National Geographic's The Ultimate Explorer Field Guide: Birds. For the past 15 years she has been a contributing writer and editor for Uncle John's Bathroom Reader-both the adult books and For Kids Only. Under the pen name Jahnna N. Malcolm, Jahnna Beecham and Malcolm Hillgartner have written more than 130 books for juveniles and young adults for Scholastic, Simon & Schuster, Random House, HarperCollins, Bantam and others. They wrote Scholastic's The Baby-Sitters Club Guide to Babysitting, working with doctors and childcare specialists. Jahnna has written award-winning learning systems and books for Hooked on Phonics. She also wrote a humorous parenting column for Sesame Street Parents Magazine and Children's Television Workshop online. Jahnna has directed audiobook recordings for Brilliance audio and with composer-lyricist Malcolm Hillgartner, has written the The Best Christmas Pageant Ever: the Musical, published by Playscripts. Katie Ortlip is a Hospice Expert on SHARECARE, Dr. Ahmet Oz's online health and wellness platform that provides consumers with expert information to help them lead healthier lives. Katie is co-author of Spiritual Tools for the Dying, a booklet distributed by Asante Health Care of Oregon to patients on hospice. She received her nursing degree from Santa Barbara City College in 1982 and then spent three years working in neonatology at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in New York City and Mary Dartmouth-Hitchcock Hospital in Hanover, New Hampshire. Katie then spent six years working in pediatrics at Albany Medical Center while earning a BA in Psychology and Masters of Social Work at SUNY-Albany. She moved to Ashland, Oregon, with her family in 1992, and has worked as a nurse and social worker for Asante Hospice for the past 25 years. During that time she has studied with Richard and Mary Groves of the Sacred Art of Living Center, completing the Sacred Art of Dying program. She has also studied with Frank Ostaseski, founding director of Zen Hospice Project in San Francisco. Katie has a special interest in ethics at the end of life, and has attended conferences with Ira Byock, Barbara Karnes and most recently the Kinsman Conference on Stewardship in Health Care.
