Loren Friedman, M.D.

Loren Friedman founded Arlington Palliative Care, PLC in September 2004 and began providing care to patients at Virginia Hospital Center in October 2004. In 2005 he was named the first Medical Director of the Virginia Hospital Center Palliative Care Service. From 1993 to September 2004 Dr. Friedman worked at Capital Hospice where he served as the Medical Director of both the Halquist Inpatient Hospice Center in Arlington and of the Washington, DC home hospice service. Concurrently, Dr. Friedman served from 1996 to 2003 as Assistant Professor of Medicine at George Washington University School of Medicine, where he continues to have an affiliation as Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine.

In 2000 Dr. Friedman was awarded $50,000 by the Prince Charitable Trust as the principle investigator on a grant which provided education on end of life care to leading physicians in the Washington metropolitan region. The following year, he applied to the Prince Charitable Trust for a second grant to continue a network of support among regional physicians who were caring for patients at the end of life: he was awarded an additional $50,000 based on the success of the initial grant. In an acknowledgement of his work, in 2002 Dr. Friedman was recognized by the DC Hospital Association as one of two co-recipients of the prestigious Haynes Rice Community Service Award. The award was presented by DC Mayor Anthony Williams for, “for your outstanding work to improve palliative care for the residents of the metropolitan Washington community.”

Dr. Friedman was born in Washington, DC and was raised in Bethesda, Maryland. He received his undergraduate degree from Brown University in 1979 where he majored in literature and fine arts. After working in film production, he attended Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York, from 1984 to 1988. As a medical student, he helped care for patients in New York City at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic. As a resident physician in Family Medicine in Hartford, Connecticut, he continued to develop educational protocols for the management of patients with HIV. He later put this experience to use when he helped to direct HIV services as a physician at Health Care for the Homeless Project in Washington, DC from 1993 to 1996. He began working full-time with hospice in 1996.

Dr. Friedman’s accomplishments as a physician educator include the development of mentoring programs on end of life care for physicians in training and for physicians in mid-career. He was the founding director of the Capital Hospice Palliative Medicine Fellowship and he recruited their first fellow in 2004. He is known as an expert on pain management in palliative care. In addition to authoring publications related to pain management, he has lectured regionally and nationally on symptom management at the end of life. He was first identified in 2005 by the Washingtonian Magazine as one of the best area pain management physicians. He is currently working--as one of nine physicians from across the country--with the American Board of Internal Medicine to develop the new board exam for palliative medicine. Dr. Friedman is board certified in both Family Medicine and in Hospice and Palliative Medicine. He lives in Arlington, Virginia, with his wife and teenage son; a daughter attends college.

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Jean-Paul Pinzon, D.O.

Jean-Paul Pinzon has been with Arlington Palliative Care since September 2006. He completed a one year fellowship in Palliative Medicine at George Washington University in 2006, during which he rotated with the palliative care team at Virginia Hospital Center. Dr. Pinzon completed residency training in internal medicine at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City in 2005. He graduated from the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2002 and received his undergraduate degree from Tufts University in 1996, where he majored in biology and studied community health. Dr. Pinzon is board certified in both Internal Medicine and in Hospice and Palliative Medicine.

Dr. Pinzon’s was born and raised in Queens, NY. He currently resides in Falls Church, Virginia, where he lives with his wife and two children.

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Marian Parrott, M.D, M.P.H.

Dr. Parrott comes to Arlington Palliative Care with more than twenty years of experience as an internist, geriatrician and hospice physician. Dr Parrott received her degree in Biology from Bryn Mawr College and her MD from Dartmouth Medical School. As a resident at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx, she became interested in improving the care of the aged. She also became interested in improving the quality of care for the dying patient. Following two years as medical director of a Home Care program in the Bronx, she pursued these interests as a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania, where she studied medical ethics, law and the elderly and the sociology of aging. Subsequently, she worked as a clinician educator and staff physician in a variety of settings. 

After moving to the Washington area in 1987, Dr. Parrott worked for a number of years at the George Washington University, where she became director of the Geriatric program. She cared for hospice patients in multiple settings including the Washington Home and Hospice, Thomas House, and in home care. In addition to her work teaching medical students and residents, Dr. Parrott did research with Dr. Tamara Harris at the National Institutes on Aging on the epidemiology of prostrate disease in elderly men. Also while at George Washington University, Dr. Parrott obtained a Masters degree in Public Health. From 1996-1998 she served as Associate Medical Director of the George Washington University Health Plan

Dr. Parrott worked at the American Diabetes Association where she revised and edited the Association’s Standards of Care. She served as the Association’s physician liaison to the managed care industry and to the Health Care Financing Administration. After this sabbatical from full-time clinical practice, Dr. Parrott returned to direct patient care as a geriatrician at Greenspring Village, a large full service retirement community in Springfield, Virginia.  At Greenspring she started a new hospice program and taught students from the University of Virginia.

Throughout her diverse career, Dr. Parrott has maintained a passionate interest in helping patients and families when faced with serious illness. She is board certified in both Internal Medicine and Geriatrics and is preparing for board certification in Palliative Medicine.

Dr. Parrott lives in Northern Virginia with her husband. She has three sons; two are now attending college. When not working, she enjoys classical music, books, and cooking.

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Johanna Braden, R.N., C.H.P.N.

Johanna Braden is the Clinical Coordinator of the Virginia Hospital Center Palliative Care Service.  Together with Loren Friedman, MD, she began the program in October 2004.  

Ms. Braden worked as a hospice nurse with Capital Hospice from 2000 to 2004.  Prior to her relocation to the Washington metropolitan area, she worked as the medical liaison on site at the US Embassy in Riga, Latvia.  While at the embassy in Latvia, Ms. Braden’s outreach efforts included the establishment of an inpatient hospice unit; the renovation and creation of playrooms at the Latvian Children’s Hospital; and the rallying of the expatriate community to raise funds for several orphanages. In addition to her work through the embassy, Ms. Braden raised thousands of dollars for the International School of Latvia.  She developed the funds to create a science lab, a library and a new playground.  Her efforts were recognized when she was awarded the Madeleine Albright Award for Volunteerism in Europe 1999. 

Ms. Braden has been lauded for her ability to comfort patients at the end of life and to reach out to family members.  She is seen as a supportive mentor by her nursing colleagues and she is consulted for her expertise on pain and symptom management throughout the hospital.  All newly hired nurses receive an introduction to palliative care from Ms. Braden during their hospital orientation.

Since completing her nursing training at New England Baptist School of Nursing in Boston, Massachusetts in 1979, Ms. Braden has worked nationally and internationally. Her career started in pediatric oncology and transplant nursing. She subsequently branched into family practice, public health and hospice care. She is married to LTC Thomas Braden USMC (Ret) and they have two children. They have been permanent residents of Arlington, Virginia since 2000.

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Shari Sitron joined the Palliative Care Service at Virginia Hospital Center in March 2010. She received her Masters degrees in Public Health from the University of Michigan in 1998 and in Social Work from Catholic University in 2007. She is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker and has worked as a hospice social worker and hospital-based clinical social work coordinator in Washington, DC.  Before returning to school for her social work degree, Shari’s public health career focused on issues related to health care financing, maternal and child health, and youth activism.  She received her undergraduate degree in history from the University of Michigan in 1996.  Shari was born and raised around Detroit, Michigan.  She currently resides in Washington, DC with her husband.

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