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Hob Osterlund is an award-winning writer and photographer living on the island of Kaua`i. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, National Geographic News, National Geographic Explorer, Audubon, National Wildlife, Nature Conservancy, Birders’ World, Hana Hou Hawaiian Airlines in-flight magazine, Portland, Ms. Magazine and more. For several years she has served as a Habitat Liaison for a number of private landowners on Kaua`i.
Hob attended the University of California-Berkeley in the late 1960s—which may explain a few things—and there received her bachelor’s degree in Ecological Geography. She holds a master’s degree in Nursing from the University of Hawai`i-Manoa. Hob founded Hawaii’s first inpatient pain management program at The Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu, where she worked with the most astounding team of professionals you could ever imagine. As Principal Investigator for the Comedy in Chemotherapy (COMIC) Study, Hob and her colleagues were the first to conduct a randomized controlled trial demonstrating the positive impact of comedy on the symptoms of cancer and chemotherapy. She integrated the practice of Healing Touch into inpatient care at QMC, which has remained the largest HT setting in the country for many years. Hob also wrote and performed the comedy character Ivy Push, RNperforming for national healthcare audiences. She produced two DVDs of those shows. Recently retired as a Pain/Palliative Care advanced-practice nurse, she continues as the President of Health, Humor & Hospitals, Inc, providing “Chuckle Channel” comedy programming to hospital closed-circuit televisions. Ms. Osterlund is a 6th-generation Hawai`i resident, descended from the firstborn of Richard and Clarissa Armstrong’s 10 children. She is honored to be a member of the Daughters of Hawai`i, an organization of descendants of people who lived in Hawai`i prior to 1880. Since 2003 Hob has coordinated the annual Hanalei Writers’ Retreat in conjunction with Pacific Writers’ Connection. These events have featured such stellar faculty as David James Duncan, Brian Doyle, Terry Tempest Williams, Kim Stafford, Kathleen Dean Moore, Hope Edelman, Gina Barreca and Carl Safina. All these teachers influenced Hob’s work, which included an interview with HRM Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck, Queen of Bhutan (now Queen Mother.) Most recently Hob has finished her book Holy Mōlī: Albatross and Other Ancestors (available from Oregon State University Press in April, 2016), has been chosen as a Fellow of the Safina Center and continues to be the Kauaʻi Coordinator of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology “TrossCam” project. Hob Osterlund’s new book Holy Mōlī: Albatross and Other Ancestors is receiving great reviews and high praise. Cheryl Strayed, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Wild , calls it a “moving and fascinating book about birds, loss, and finding a true home in the world.” Carl Safina, author of Eye of the Albatross, declares it “a gift to the world” and a “must read.” Safina Center. Jaymi Heimbuch of Mother Nature Network calls it “by turns fascinating and tear-jerking, humorous and poetic.” David James Duncan, author of The River Why and The Brothers K, says “Holy Mōlī is a healing; a hoot; a transmission of gravity-defying wonder.” Read more Holy Mōlī accolades. The author will be speaking at several west coast locations in September and October, 2016. Check back for specifics. View Hob Osterlund’s profile on LinkedIn.
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