Lisa C. Lindley’s work sits at the intersection of compassion and data. A nationally recognized expert in child health services, she studies how health care systems and policies shape access, quality, and cost of care for children and their families—especially those navigating the final stages of life.
“Providing evidence on interventions and policies is critical to ensuring every child and family facing end-of-life care receives the highest quality, most compassionate, and most equitable care possible,” said Lindley, professor and Nightingale Endowed Faculty Fellow in the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s College of Nursing.
Journey to UT
Professor Lisa C. Lindley’s research team focuses on how children and families access hospice care.
After earning her PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2011, Lindley joined UT, where she has since built a nationally recognized research program that positions the university as a leader in pediatric hospice and palliative care policy.
Her research team focuses on how children and families access hospice care, using large-scale claims data and advanced statistical methods to uncover patterns, barriers, and inequities that shape care delivery nationwide.
In addition to leading a robust research program, Lindley teaches quantitative methodology and health care economics in the College of Nursing’s graduate programs. She is known for her mentorship of undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows, who participate in all phases of her research.
“I’m really proud that our team is so supportive of trainees,” Lindley said. “Our undergraduates have even published in top-tier journals like Health Affairs, and that’s a huge achievement for students so early in their careers.”
Turning data into policy impact
One of Lindley’s most influential projects examines the effectiveness and costs of concurrent care—a model that allows children to continue life-prolonging treatments while receiving hospice services. Her findings have guided policy conversations across states and informed how Medicaid programs design benefits for terminally ill children.
“Families shouldn’t have to make the impossible choice between continuing treatment and accessing hospice care,” Lindley explained. “Our work provides evidence to policymakers to guide more informed implementation decisions while empowering families to navigate their care options with greater flexibility and confidence.”
Building tools for change
Lindley’s commitment to impact extends beyond shaping policy to making information accessible to those who need it most. Her team created pedeolcare.utk.edu, a publicly available repository of pediatric end-of-life research, policy documents, and best practices. The site serves as a trusted resource for clinicians, advocates, hospice providers, and policymakers nationwide—offering free access to articles and key state and federal documents.
“Clinicians often refer new hospice providers to our website to access up-to-date research, evidence, and policy guidance on pediatric hospice care,” Lindley said. “It’s gratifying to see our work have a tangible impact on practice.”
In addition to supporting hospice providers, the resource helps clinicians, researchers, and advocates easily find current evidence and understand the legal and policy context needed to advance care in their states.
UT’s national leadership in pediatric end-of-life research
Through data-driven policy research, open-access resource sharing, mentorship, and collaboration, Lindley is advancing national understanding of pediatric hospice care and positioning UT as a leader in compassionate evidence-based solutions for families.
With strong institutional support, her team continues to turn evidence into impact, expanding the reach and relevance of their work. Now in her 15th year at UT, Lindley is aiming to explore spatial and geographic analyses to understand how care coordination varies across regions, particularly in rural and underserved communities.
Lindley has brought more than $3 million in federal funding to UT. She was awarded the university’s first Nightingale Endowed Faculty Fellowship and in 2019 received a Chancellor’s Professional Promise Research and Creative Achievement Award. Her work is supported by multiple awards from the National Institutes of Health and the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, including NIH career development (K01) and research project (R01/R56) grants.
“I’m grateful to be at a university that values research and its real-world impact,” Lindley said. “That support allows us to ask new questions to better understand where families still face barriers and how we can help remove them.”