Clinical Pastoral Education faculty biographies

Rabbi Yonason Meadows

CPE Manager Midwest Region

Rabbi Yonason Meadows draws upon many different streams of experience and training in his work as a chaplain and CPE Educator. First, he is an Orthodox Jewish Rabbi, having been ordained twice – first by his main yeshiva (school of higher Jewish learning) in 2006 and privately by his main rabbinical teacher Rabbi Shmuel Storch in 2009. Second, he is rooted in his Social Work training, graduating with a Masters of Social Work (MSW) from Yeshiva University in 2002. Third, his immersion in Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) and his clinical training and practice as a chaplain is core to his spiritual care identity and work. Yonason followed his first unit of CPE at Advocate Aurora Saint Luke’s Medical Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with two years of chaplain residency in the Greater Milwaukee Patient Service Area at Advocate Aurora Health (AAH). Yonason was honored to be the first chaplain resident to specialize in Behavioral Health as a second-year resident in the history of Aurora Health Care.

Yonason continued his spiritual care training and practice with CPE Educator training and working as an Educator and as a chaplain both at AAH and at Unity Point Health Meriter Hospital in Madison whose spiritual care department he joined in 2017. Yonason was specifically requested by the Jewish community of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to travel there in December, 2018 to provide clinical care to that community for five days shortly after the Tree of Life Shooting which took the lives of 11 Jewish people in the largest single antisemitic attack in American history.

Yonason re-joined Advocate Health, specifically Aurora Saint Luke’s Medical Center, in June of 2021, having been recruited to be the Critical Care Staff Chaplain for the Medical Respiratory and Coronary Intensive Care Units. With Covid still in its height, Yonason was called upon to utilize his extensive training and experience in both patient care and staff support in a wide variety of high acuity situations.

In 2022, Yonason returned to CPE education and is currently supervising full time both for Advocate Health and for Chabad On Call, the first ACPE accredited CPE center under Orthodox Jewish auspices. After serving as an interim Manager for CPE for Advocate Health in the Midwest for nearly a year between 2022 and 2023, Yonason was permanently hired in that position in August of 2023.

Yonason is married to Michele, his wife of over twenty-five years and the Human Resources Director for Milwaukee Job Corps, an agency providing a continuum of human services and education for at risk youth and young adults, and is the proud father of six children. He enjoys cooking, reading, movies, art in general, and music of many kinds.

Rev. Joanne Fong, MDiv, BCC

ACPE Certified Educator, Clinical Pastoral Education
Aurora St. Luke's Medical Center

Rev. Fong is a board-certified chaplain with the Association of Professional Chaplains with experience in hospice, palliative care, ICU, and trauma settings. Her interest in groups, education and spiritual growth led her to pursue certification as a clinical pastoral educator with ACPE.

Joanne holds a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from the Fashion Institute of Technology, NY State University and a Master of Divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary. She is ordained as a Minister of Word and Sacrament by the Presbyterian Church, USA.

She has served with clinical leaders on hospital-wide committees, has facilitated support groups for patients and their families, and supported team members. Joanne integrates her passion for Art and Spirituality as she creates an inclusive and diverse learning environment for her CPE students.