Our Copilots
Four master’s-level social workers, each with their own reason for doing this work.
Our Copilots
We are here to help
Your Copilot is an expert counselor dedicated to helping you communicate your wishes, and empowering your team to support you in achieving them.
Every Copilot was a master’s-level social worker. Between them they had worked in hospital palliative care, ICU social work, international adoption, HIV and hepatitis care, and community health — and each of them wrote about why this particular conversation matters to them.
Their own introductions are reproduced below, in full.
In their own words
Four Copilots, four reasons
Medical social worker, Bay Area
Rebecca Li, MSW
Hello! My name is Rebecca, and I am a medical social worker here in the Bay Area. I’m passionate about helping people communicate their choices while navigating a complicated and confusing medical system.
I went to UC Berkeley for undergrad where I studied Sociology. As the daughter of a doctor and a physical therapist, helping through health care has always been a part of my life. I got my MSW at Smith College School for Social Work, and then completed a post-Masters fellowship in social work at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland.
I have distinct memories of sitting down with my grandmother and our family to discuss her advanced health care directive. In my Chinese-American culture there is a lot of fear and superstition around health care conversations. I am especially grateful that my grandmother had the courage to communicate her choices to my family.
I am a Bay Area native. I enjoy swimming in the frigid waters of the San Francisco Bay, singing and dancing, and cooking delicious meals with my family.
Social worker, Oakland
Jay Fournier, MSW
I was raised as a mid-west boy in Cleveland, Ohio. My mother was a single parent and raised my brother and I by herself on a bookkeeper’s salary. This was the first opportunity I had to experience how important it is to care for yourself and others.
At some point early on I transferred those caring skills of helping with the family to being a paperboy, YMCA camp counselor, community recreation counselor, youth program director, professional YMCA director, elementary and high school counselor, social worker working in the AIDS epidemic, community activist, and patient educator and lecturer.
Many years ago I was told that if you are not part of a solution then you are part of the problem. In short, I want to be a part of your solutions as you go through this important period of your life.
I currently live in Oakland with my husband and two wonderful big dogs that can test my patience at any moment of the day.
Palliative care social worker
Katie Savin, MSW
Katie Savin has a lifetime of experience interpreting between the medical and lay communities. Growing up with chronic illness, she developed a keen insight into the potential for communication gaps between health care providers and patients.
These experiences prompted her to obtain her Masters in Social Work from the Hunter School of Social Work in New York, specializing in clinical work in health care. After working in critical and palliative care, Katie focused her clinical and scholarly efforts on improving the experiences of patients and their families managing serious chronic or life-limiting illness.
Most recently, Katie worked at San Francisco General Hospital where she served as the Palliative Care Social Worker. Prior to that, she worked at Stanford Hospital as the ICU Social Worker.
Across hospitals and settings, Katie has remained passionate about bioethical issues, end-of-life conversations, and maximizing transparency and comfort for all.
Social worker, East Coast transplant
Kristin Markov, MSW
My name is Kristin and I’m an East Coast transplant from Pennsylvania. I have always been fascinated by learning about the lives and stories of others, and this passion led me to study social work at New York University.
After graduating, I moved to California and went on to work in the field of international adoption. As an adoption social worker, I helped individuals and families adopt children from many different countries, and I managed a team of social workers located all over the state.
During the birth of my first son in 2013, I arrived at the hospital with a detailed plan I had printed out to share with my nurses and doctor. It was the first time in my life that I was a patient in a hospital, and I realized how important it is to be actively involved in your own medical care.
It can’t be said enough that you are your own best advocate.
Take the first step
Ask for a Copilot
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CoPilots In Care
- WhereStanford, CA, USA
- Phone(650) 746-4272
- Foundersfounders@copilotsincare.com
- Referralsinfo@copilotsincare.com