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Heather Farley, M.D., MHCDS, FACEP
Chief Wellness Officer
Expertise & Research Interests
- Change Management
- Wellbeing at Work
- Culture of Wellbeing
- Flourishing
- Burnout
- Healthcare Worker Stress
- Vicarious Trauma
- Professional Fulfillment
Education
- MD, Medicine, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey
- M.S., Health Care Delivery Science, Dartmouth College
Heather Farley, M.D., MHCDS, FACEP
Chief Wellness Officer
Dr. Heather Farley, an emergency physician by training, is one of the nation's foremost experts on healthcare worker wellbeing.
Dr. Farley has personally experienced the trauma that impacts caregivers when a patient suffers an unexpected adverse event and the transformative power of supportive, evidence-based initiatives. She is passionate about advancing the professional fulfillment and wellbeing of health care providers so they can flourish at work and at home. Studies show that investing in employee wellbeing is a wise choice for health systems for a multitude of moral, ethical, and financial reasons.
Dr. Farley leads advocacy programs and interventions aimed at optimizing the caregiver experience and fostering an organizational culture of wellbeing. Her mission is to restore joy and meaning in work for health care providers across the nation.
On Sunday, May 17, 2020, Dr. Farley and the Center for WorkLife Wellbeing were highlighted in The New York Times as a model of how to provide support for healthcare workers in times of extreme stress.
Multimedia





Experience
'I Can't Turn My Brain Off': PTSD and Burnout Threaten Medical Workers
Women in health care suffer burnout disproportionately to men
Achieving Greater Workforce Resiliency
Medical workers struggle with PTSD due to COVID-19
6 ways a health system attacks stress during the COVID-19 crisis
Creating a Culture of Wellness in the Workplace
Be Well: Preventing Physician Suicide
Scott Becker Interviews Dr. Heather Farley, Chief Wellness Officer at Christiana Care Health System
Delaware need easier access to mental health care after COVID
ChristianaCare program provides ‘care for caregivers’
Seeking solutions for healthcare worker burnout
Ideas That Work: Make Regular Rounds With Goodies for Staff
Dr. Heather Farley, Physician Executive and Chief Wellness Officer at ChristianaCare & Professor of Emergency Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University
Creating a Culture of Well-being
The 2022 Healthcare Workforce Rescue Package – Heather Farley, MD, and Tina Shah, MD
I Quit
'We are not going to "resilience" our way out': 4 chief wellness officers on combating burnout
Defending the Term “Burnout” : A Useful Tool in the Quest to Ease Clinician Suffering
Op-Ed: Stop Ignoring Our Parallel Pandemic — Biden's COVID-19 task force must take action to prevent clinician burnout
Supporting Well-Being Through the Implementation of Education and a Relaxing Retreat Space
Assessment of Physician Sleep and Wellness, Burnout, and Clinically Significant Medical Errors
Responsibilities and Job Characteristics of Health Care Chief Wellness Officers in the United States
Success Story: The Chief Wellness Officer Journey at ChristianaCare
The Evolving Role of the Chief Wellness Officer in the Management of Crises by Health Care Systems: Lessons from the Covid-19 Pandemic
Organizational strategies to reduce physician burnout and improve professional fulfillment
- Collaborative for Healing and Renewal in Medicine (CHARM) -- Member
- American Medical Association -- Member
- National Academy of Medicine -- Member
- Institute for Healthcare Improvement -- Member
- American Association for Physician Leadership -- Member