Meet Our Speakers

Keynote

Panel A: Co-Designing with Patients & Caregivers: A Charter for Accountable Use of AI in Canadian
Healthcare

Kerseri Scane provides leadership within the Patient Experience portfolio at University Health Network, focusing on
learning from patients, families and their experiences by engaging them in their care and at the organizational
level for planning and decision-making.  She is committed to ensuring that improvements made in the quality,
safety and experience of care are driven by what is most important to patients.  She is passionate about
ensuring our healthcare system is moving towards one that embraces collaboration and meaningful
partnerships with patients.

Anushka Jaffer is a trained health research methodologist and dedicated systems improvement professional specializing in translating evidence into actionable strategies to enhance healthcare delivery. Her work is driven by a passion for identifying barriers, analyzing gaps, and co-creating solutions that foster impactful
change. Currently, Anushka is the Post-Acute Patient Experience Specialist at the University Health Network. With expertise in both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, Anushka excels in engaging stakeholders, enhancing their experiences, and driving collaborative solutions. Her contributions have strengthened systems through strategic planning, proposal development, and the successful implementation of initiatives like family advisor integration in provincial peadiatric advisory committees. As a lifelong learner, her professional journey is enriched by project management expertise, policy development, and fostering equity, diversity, and inclusion within healthcare and community contexts.

Genevieve Groulx is a medical illustrator and visual health communications designer working in the Patient Education
and Engagement department at University Health Network. She graduated from OCAD University with a Bachelor of Design in Illustration, and earned her Masters of Science degree in Biomedical Communications from the University of Toronto. Her work’s focus has been on empowering patients by making health information accessible and engaging to different audiences with varying levels of health literacy.

Mohit Arora is a patient advocate and strategist who works with leadership teams on brand positioning, audience strategy, and the communications decisions that shape public trust. He also holds several board and advisory roles in healthcare governance, ensuring community and patient perspectives shape decisions at the system level. He writes and speaks widely on AI, digital literacy, equity, and what scale looks like from the patient’s perspective. Mohit’s vantage point draws equally from decades of lived experience as a patient and caregiver and from a career spent understanding communities and building brands.

Panel B: The Role of Health Literacy in Health Promotion – Celebrating 40th Anniversary of the WHO Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion

Dr Tetine Sentell is the Interim Assistant Vice Provost for Research and Scholarship and Professor of Public Health at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Dr. Sentell is an internationally recognized scholar with over 30 years of research experience in health literacy across multiple domains and systems as well as understanding and addressing health inequities from strengths-based perspectives. Dr. Sentell has published over 130 papers and led projects from the National Institutes of Health, the Hawai‘i Department of Health, and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality among other funders. She has served in a World Health Organization expert role, as a Senior Scientist with the Queen’s Health Systems, and as a Fulbright Specialist in Tirana, Albania.

Diane Levin-Zamir is a Full Professor at the School of Public Health at the University of Haifa and, until recently, served as the National Director of the Health Promotion Department at Clalit, Israel’s largest healthcare organization. Her contributions to health promotion and specifically to the topic of health literacy span global, international, regional, and local levels. Globally, she co-founded the IUHPE Health Literacy Global Working Group in 2010 and continues to play an active role in its leadership. She was instrumental in the establishment of the International Health Literacy Association, serving on its inaugural Board of Directors and leading the development of its global summit programs. Her work emphasizes applied research and policy in diverse settings—including special populations, culturally tailored approaches, communities, hospitals, primary care, and media/digital platforms. She has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals (over 5500 citations according to Google Scholar), contributed book chapters, co-authored a health promotion text book, and co-edited special editions on health promotion and health literacy. Diane serves as an Associate Editor for the Global Health Promotion journal.

Kristine Sorensen

Orkan Okan

Panel C: Beyond the formula: Conducting, reporting and thinking critically about readability assessment

Olivia Mac

Julie Ayre

Danielle Muscat

Workshop: Teaching Health Literacy Through Research: A Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) Model

Lorraine S. Wallace, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the College of Medicine at The Ohio State University.
She joined Ohio State in 2011 after faculty appointments at the University of Texas at Tyler and the University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine. Dr. Wallace has authored more than 130 peer-reviewed publications focused on health literacy and clear health communication. She also developed and teaches a
course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) in the College of Medicine. She has received Fulbright Scholar and Specialist awards in Moldova, North Macedonia, and Vietnam.

Workshop: From Access to Understanding: Advancing Health Literacy in Community-Based Clinical Research

Martha Dockery