Doula Program to Accompany & Comfort

Core Staff

Rosemary Ellis joined The Doula Program in 2021 as the Interim Executive Director, and became the permanent ED in 2024. Formerly a management consultant who specialized in helping organizations bridge management gaps, Ellis worked with both nonprofit and private-sector companies, and advised multiple start-up entities. She is on the board of The HealthRight Group and The SCAN Foundation, both of which work to help older adults live healthy, independent lives.

After serving as Interim CEO of a global health nonprofit in 2017, Ellis led other organizations focusing on social justice, health, and reproductive rights. Previously, she was Editor-In-Chief of Good Housekeeping, where she oversaw both traditional and emerging media products, The Good Housekeeping Research Institute, and all business extensions. She was SVP and Editorial Director of Prevention, and was CMO at Human Condition, an early-stage technology B-corporation.

Ellis has appeared on The Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, CNN and other television venues, and has written for The New York Times, The Huffington Post, Health, Departures, and American Health, among others.

She is inspired by and committed to the work The Doula Program does, and first experienced the privilege of doing that work when, as a teen, she volunteered to regularly babysit a little girl with an inoperable brain tumor for the last 3 months of her life.

Lisa Zeitz, LMSW, is the Clinical Supervisor of The Doula Program. Since receiving her Masters in Social Work at NYU, she has worked in a variety of settings, focusing on critical and chronic illness, end of life care, and bereavement. Zeitz worked in pediatric oncology at NYU Medical Center as well as in a number of other acute-care hospitals before specializing in issues around death, dying and bereavement across the lifespan. For over 15 years, she was a coordinator and co-facilitator for The Bereavement Center of Westchester and The Treehouse program. There she coordinated a group program for families who had suffered the death of a parent or a child and had surviving children between the ages of four and eighteen. She also ran grief-focused groups for adults of all ages, while developing and running a training program for volunteers at The Treehouse.

Zeitz is on the faculty of the End of Life Certificate Program at the Smith College School of Social Work, where she also teaches continuing education courses. She presents on issues around death, dying and grief in a variety of community based and academic settings.

Laurie Massry, MPH is the Senior Manager, Programs + Operations at the Doula Program to Accompany and Comfort. She earned her MPH from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University and completed her undergraduate degree in Human Development at Cornell University. Upon graduation from Cornell, Laurie taught elementary school in Memphis, Tennessee with Teach for America.

Laurie strives to improve the health and wellbeing of all individuals and is particularly passionate about helping those who are most vulnerable. As Senior Manager, she manages the operational and administrative aspects of the Doula Program and brings her dedicated spirit to ensure the organization continues to grow and meet its mission.

Alix Towler, MSW, supports the day-to-day operations of the Doula Program as Program Coordinator. Since receiving their Master of Social Work from the University of Hawaii, Alix has worked for a variety of programs centered around social justice and equitable access to services including the Mecklenburg County Public Defender in Charlotte, NC, and Preble Street, a non-profit that serves people experiencing homelessness, hunger, and poverty in Portland, ME.

Alix is a Social Work Trainer and Workshop Leader for the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College, providing ongoing professional development for Department of Social Services staff throughout the city and state of New York.