Arjoon
Patient Advocate
Arjoon is a working professional in Toronto, Canada. He has completed his Master's in engineering in London, UK, and business in Toronto, Canada. He currently works in sales and marketing in a Fortune 500 company. Arjoon had a brain incident in April 2020 which led to surgery and then virtual rehab (through telehealth). Now, Arjoon is back on his feet and living life as he was before his incident.
Mary Ann Abrams, MD, MPH
Nationwide Children’s Hospital
Mary Ann Abrams, M.D., M.P.H. is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, The Ohio State University College of Medicine (OSUCOM), and GME Quality Improvement Medical Director and Primary Care Pediatrician at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and Associate Director of Longitudinal Groups at OSUCOM. She is a Co-Investigator for the Office of Minority Health’s Advancing Health Literacy to Enhance Equitable Community Responses to COVID-19 grant in Franklin County (Columbus) Ohio, entitled Building a Health Literate Community: Toward an Equitable Response to COVID. Dr. Abrams led Iowa Health System’s (now UnityPoint Health) health literacy quality initiative and developed health literacy-related interventions and resources including an Always Use Teach-back! Toolkit, a guidebook on Building Health Literate Organizations, and online training. She co-chaired the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Health Literacy Project Advisory Committee, and served as co-editor and contributing author to the AAP’s Plain Language Pediatrics. She has implemented a longitudinal health literacy curriculum at OSUCOM, and published on implementing health literacy-based interventions, pediatric health literacy, and partnering with patients and adult learners. Dr. Abrams graduated from The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Harvard School of Public Health, and University of Dayton.
Cynthia Baur, PhD
University of Maryland School of Public Health
Cynthia Baur is Director of the Horowitz Center for Health Literacy, University of Maryland School of Public Health. Dr. Baur has been a national leader in health communication and health literacy for more than 20 years. Prior to directing the Horowitz Center, she led CDC's health literacy and plain language work and was the health communication lead in the federal Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. She was the lead editor of the U.S. National Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy and drafted the original health communication objectives for Healthy People 2010 and 2020. With Dr. Christine Prue, Dr. Baur co-created the CDC Clear Communication Index, a set of research-based health literacy criteria for public health communication.
Susan Bockrath, MPH, CHES
Nebraska Association of Local Health Directors
Susan E. Bockrath is the Executive Director of the Nebraska Association of Local Health Directors (NALHD), Nebraska’s NACCHO affiliate. Since 2014, she has led NALHD’s work to support health departments as regional chief health strategists. Within this broad scope, since 2014, NALHD’s unique VetSET program has been working to develop Nebraska LHDs’ data, expertise, and intervention strategies to meet the public health needs of Veterans and their families. Susan holds a Master’s Degree in Public Health from the Emory University Rollins School of Public Health (1998).
Elizabeth Chung, MS
Asian American Center of Frederick
Mrs. Elizabeth Chung is a native of Hong Kong, China and immigrated to the United States in 1970. She has been a strong advocate for minority health for the past 50 years since her undergraduate study in University of Hawaii, in early 70’s. Mrs. Chung also completed her graduate study in public health from the Pennsylvania State University in 1981 and has dedicated her professional work to issues surrounding health equity since then. She is the founder and Executive Director of the Asian American Center of Frederick (AACF), whose mission is to support immigrants with essential skills to be independent and successful contributors to the community. Under her leadership, AACF is a leading entity in addressing health disparities through partnership with collective impact. Her primary focus has been health equity through cultural competency and language access for the Limited English Proficiency population. Partnering with University of Maryland, she served as Principal Investigator on collaborative initiatives with federal funds. Mrs. Chung has served on a variety of Maryland advisory committees, boards, and commissions in various capacities. Mrs. Chung's most recent accomplishment is the development of the Community Health Worker Program in western Maryland, expanding public/community health workforce development to address health disparities for the most vulnerable populations in the community. In 2020, Mrs. Chung was appointed by Maryland Governor Hogan and reappointed to serve on the Asian Pacific Island American Commission for her 4th term. She has also served on the Maryland Community Health Resource Commission since 2013 and was the Chair from 2019 - 2021. Her latest gubernatorial appointment is to serve on the Health Equity Resource Community Advisory Committee until 2025.
Karen Erickson, PhD
Center for Literacy and Disability Studies, University of North Carolina
Karen Erickson, Ph.D. is the Director of the Center for Literacy and Disability Studies, a Professor in the Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, and the David E. and Dolores “Dee” Yoder Distinguished Professor in the Department of Allied Health Sciences in the School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Karen is a former teacher of students with significant disabilities. Her current research addresses literacy and communication assessment and instruction for students with significant cognitive disabilities. Recent projects have focused on creating open-source professional development and implementation supports such as Project Core and Tar Heel Shared Reader. She is the co-developer of Tar Heel Reader, and open-source, online library of accessible books for beginning readers and the Minimized Text Complexity Guidelines created to support the development of easy-to-read health and disaster preparedness materials.
Janet Ohene-Frempong, MS
Institute for Healthcare Advancement
Janet Ohene-Frempong, MS is a plain language and cross-cultural communications consultant with over 25 years of experience in consumer/provider communications. She has conducted workshops and provided consultation for a wide range of health information, service, and care providers, including health care systems, government agencies, health insurers, pharmaceutical companies, medical publishers, health and human service agencies and schools of medicine, nursing and allied health.
She is often an invited speaker and keynote speaker at national conferences. Ohene-Frempong has served on several national advisory committees, and she has co-authored peer-reviewed journal articles. She is the fourth recipient of the IHA Health Literacy Hero Award, given by the Institute for Healthcare Advancement and was the was the second invited Blum Visiting Scholar, nominated annually by the Maxwell & Eleanor Blum Patient and Family Learning Center at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Over the years, Ohene-Frempong has connected the issue of civic literacy with health literacy. However, her focus on civic literacy, as a necessary component of health literacy, has deepened due to the politicization of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting dire health outcomes. She has presented on the need to use the principles of effective plain language communication to promote civic literacy as a route to a more robust health literacy. But she sees it as a route to promoting health equity, as well.
Fred Van Geloven, MA
CommunicateHealth
Fred specializes in accessible, user-friendly, and inclusive design. As part of the team at CommunicateHealth, he develops plain language, consumer-oriented health content and digital products. Fred takes pride in crafting innovative solutions to user experience design challenges that spark delight and always put the user’s needs first.
Diana Peña Gonzalez, MPH, CHES
Institute for Healthcare Advancement
Diana is the Health Education Specialist at the Institute for Healthcare Advancement (IHA). She has implemented programs nationally surrounding topics such as health insurance literacy, asthma, teen health, and oral health. She has provided programmatic technical assistance for community-based organizations through web-based or in-person trainings. She is co-author of -Innovative Approaches to Chronic Disease Management: Health Literacy Solutions and Opportunities for Research Validation in Health Literacy: New Directions in Research, Theory, and Practice, and The Intersection of Health Literacy, Health Equity, and Nursing Practice in Health Equity and Nursing: Achieving Equity Through Policy, Population Health, and Interprofessional Collaboration. As the Health Education Specialist, she manages content development for IHAs Annual Health Literacy Conference and provides programmatic assistance for the Health Literacy in Action Conference.
Kathleen Hall Jamieson, PhD
FactCheck.org
Kathleen Hall Jamieson is the Elizabeth Ware Packard Professor of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication. She is the co-founder of FactCheck.org and its subsidiary site, SciCheck, and director of The Sunnylands Constitution Project, which has produced more than 30 award-winning films on the Constitution for high school students. Jamieson is a member of the American Philosophical Society and the National Academy of Sciences, and a Distinguished Scholar of the National Communication Association. She also is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Academy of Political and Social Science, and the International Communication Association. She is a past president of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. In 2020, the National Academy of Sciences awarded Jamieson its most prestigious award, the Public Welfare Medal, for her “non-partisan crusade to ensure the integrity of facts in public discourse and development of the science of scientific communication to promote public understanding of complex issues.” In January 2021, she was the recipient of the Benjamin Franklin Founder Award.
Patty Herrera
La Habra Family Resource Center
Patty Herrera is a Family Support Advocate for the La Habra Family Resource Center - a network of community centers designed to protect children from child abuse through community mental health and wellness resources. Furthermore, Patty is an active board member of the Early Headstart Program, where she serves as the community representative bringing community resources to the La Habra Early Headstart Network. Previously, Patty work with the La Habra School District providing language assessments for second language learners. Additionally, Patty was involved in collaboration with the program Healthy Start, which aimed to provide afterschool activities and groups to at-risk students within the La Habra community. Patty is certified through the state of California as a Domestic Violence Counselor, possess a Paralegal Certificate with Fullerton College and holds a certificate for the Cornel University Family Development Credential Program.
Eskarlethe Juarez, MPH, CHES
Institute for Healthcare Advancement
Eskarlethe Juarez is a Health Education Associate at the Institute for Healthcare Advancement (IHA). She received her Masters of Public Health degree at the California State University, Northridge. She holds a B.S. degree in Health Science with a concentration in Community Health. She is also a Certified Health Education Specialist from the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing. For Ms. Juarez, improving others health status is not just an exercise in health science, it is a mission.
Elaine Khoong, MD, MS
Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital
Elaine Khoong is a general internist and assistant professor of medicine based at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. She is interested in leveraging technology and implementation science to improve equity in delivery of primary care. Dr. Khoong is a mixed methods researcher, implementation scientist, and informatician. Her research aims to develop, pilot, and implement interventions that improve chronic disease outcomes for populations that experience disparities, particularly those cared for in safety-net system. Dr. Khoong's research interests are driven by her experiences as a primary care clinician caring for diverse patients within a safety-net setting.
Gail Kouame, MILIS
Greenblatt Library, Augusta University
Gail Kouame is the Assistant Director for Research & Education Services at the Robert B. Greenblatt, M.D. Library at Augusta University in Augusta, Georgia. In this role, Gail leads a skilled team of librarians embedded in the university’s health sciences colleges and units. Gail works primarily with undergraduate medical education, with a special focus on supporting evidence-based practice as well as participating in problem-based learning. Gail’s research interests include improving health literacy in vulnerable populations as well as librarian integration into medical education. She has published works about librarian roles in small group case-based learning, and secured a grant from the National Library of Medicine to provide health education modules to incarcerated individuals through secure tablet computers. This grant-funded project was the 2020 winner of the Frank Bradway Rogers Information Advancement Award from the Medical Library Association.
Prior to coming to Augusta University, Gail was the Assistant Director for HEAL-WA, a digital library for Washington State practitioners, based at the University of Washington.
Gail earned a B.A. in Sociology and Psychology from Willamette University and an M.L.I.S. from University of Washington. Prior to becoming a librarian, she was a social worker in long-term care.
Sarah McGrew, PhD
Department of Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership, University of Maryland
Sarah McGrew is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership in the College of Education at the University of Maryland, College Park. She studies educational responses to the spread of online mis- and disinformation, focusing specifically on young people’s civic online reasoning—how they search for and evaluate online information on contentious topics—and how schools can better support students to learn effective evaluation strategies. In addition to investigating civic online reasoning curricula in secondary and college classrooms, Dr. McGrew’s current research focuses on how best to support teachers to learn civic online reasoning themselves and how to design lessons that are rooted in community issues that students know and care about.
Dr. McGrew earned a B.A. in Political Science and Education from Swarthmore College and an M.A. in the Stanford Teacher Education Program. She taught high school history in Washington, D.C. for five years before completing her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Teacher Education at Stanford.
Mike McKee, MD, MPH
Center for Disability Health and Wellness, University of Michigan
Michael McKee is a family physician with clinical and research expertise in disability health. As a physician with a hearing loss, he is especially interested in advocating for the rights of Deaf and hard of hearing patients to obtain equitable health care including accessible communication. His research focus includes health disparities for individuals with various disabilities, health information accessibility, health literacy, and telemedicine applications. He is also interested in the application of eye trackers and mixed methodologies to study how individuals acquire health information through visual and incidental learning opportunities. Dr. McKee is on board of the Association of Medical Professionals with Hearing Losses(link is external) (AMPHL). He is also currently an appointed member of the Roundtable on Health Literacy of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. He also serves on the AcademyHealth Disabilities Research Interest Group (IG) Advisory Committee, Member.
Andrea Mongler, MPH
CommunicateHealth
Andrea is a talented writer and editor with a passion for public health and a knack for translating complicated medical research into plain language. She’s dedicated to making even the toughest health topics understandable and approachable. Andrea crafts clear, concise, and engaging health content that is accessible to low-literacy audiences — and a pleasure to read for everyone else.
DeJuan Patterson, MPA
PATIENTS Program, University of Baltimore
DeJuan Patterson is an advocate, public servant, and social media impact consultant with the Bridge Advisory Group. As a Baltimore native, he has developed a passion for the prevention of gun violence, addressing societal inequities and community empowerment. He received his Bachelor's Degree in Psychology and his Master of Public Administration in Public Policy from Bowie State University.
Mr. Patterson leverages unique personal and professional background as a grassroots leader in community and government affairs, to be well-positioned as the nexus between the community, government, non-governmental organizations, and businesses.
Zach Rabovsky, MPH
CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield
Zach Rabovsky is the Director of Practice Transformation for CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield (CareFirst), the region’s largest not-for-profit healthcare company offering a comprehensive portfolio of health insurance products through its affiliates and subsidiaries and administrative services to 3.5 million individuals and employers in Maryland, the District of Columbia and Northern Virginia.
In his role, Mr. Rabovsky supports value-based programs, including CareFirst’s Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) Program, Accountable Care Organizations and Specialty Episode of Care Programs. He leads a team of Practice Consultants who work directly with physicians and healthcare professionals in Maryland, the District of Columbia and Virginia to identify opportunities, recommend strategies and support workflow redesign that improves quality, outcomes and value in the healthcare market.
Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, Mr. Rabovsky has 14 years of experience across various healthcare settings, including healthcare delivery, research, policy and consulting. Since joining CareFirst in 2013, Mr. Rabovsky has grown CareFirst’s discipline of practice consulting, supporting transformation for our value-based care partners and leading CareFirst’s alignment with the Maryland Primary Care Program through the Maryland Depart of Health and The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation. He has also championed efforts to build partnerships with local and national payers and delivery systems and led consultant activities for seven major health systems in the Baltimore-Washington area.
Mr. Rabovksy received his Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology from the University of Maryland and a Master of Public Health with a concentration in Health Policy from George Washington University.
Monika Ramnarayan, MPH
CommunicateHealth
Monika aims to promote health equity and meet user needs by integrating design thinking principles and public health approaches. As a product manager at CommunicateHealth, Monika skillfully guides multi-disciplinary teams through designing and building sleek, accessible digital health products. She’s committed to ensuring all products follow user experience best practices.
Monika holds a Master of Public Health degree from Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health. In her free time, Monika plays violin and piano and teaches yoga.
Janel Schuh, PhD
CommunicateHealth
Janel is a highly skilled quantitative and qualitative researcher who is endlessly curious about health communication. With more than a dozen years of applied research and strategic communication experience, she helps clients create — and validate — communication-based solutions to challenging health issues. Janel loves interacting with people from all backgrounds and working with them to improve their health.
Danielle Stahl, MPH
Washington County Health Department
Danielle Stahl is the Washington County Health Department Public Information Officer. She oversees the county's local health improvement coalition, Healthy Washington County, which brings together stakeholders from all over the county to address priority health issues like diabetes and opioid use. In addition, Danielle is the county's chronic disease program manager and leads several diabetes prevention initiatives and programs throughout the year.
Bonnie Swenor, PhD, MPH
Johns Hopkins Disability Health Research Center
Dr. Swenor is an epidemiologist and associate professor at The Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute and the Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is also the founder and director of the Johns Hopkins Disability Health Research Center, which aims to address health inequities for people with all types of disabilities. To accomplish this, the Center takes a data-driven approach to establishing evidence, developing strategies, and shaping policy that advances health equity for the disability community. To ensure people with disabilities are at the center of this work, the Center prioritizes partnerships with the disability community and focuses on the inclusion of researchers with disabilities.
Dr. Swenor’s career is motivated by her personal experience with visual impairment. Her work combines public health, disability, and aging research and focuses on maximizing health, inclusion, and equity for people with disabilities throughout their lives. Her research has been supported by grants from the National Institute on Aging and National Eye Institute and published in top journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, and JAMA. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Swenor led efforts to identify and address inequities impacting the disability community, including her work leading the COVID-19 Vaccine Dashboard for People with Disabilities, cited in the New York Times, Washington Post, Time Magazine, and Politico. Dr. Swenor cofounded the SENSE Network, an international consortium connecting researchers studying sensory aging research, and is cohost of the Included podcast.
Dr. Swenor received a Master of Public Health and doctorate degrees in epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at the National Institute on Aging.
Michael Villaire, MSLM
Institute for Healthcare Advancement
Michael Villaire, MSLM, is President and CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Advancement, a healthcare nonprofit 501(c)(3) public charity dedicated to empowering people to better health, with a major mission emphasis on health literacy and health equity.
Mr. Villaire has written numerous articles on various aspects of health literacy, and lectures nationally on health literacy. He is co-author of the textbook, Health Literacy in Primary Care- A Clinicians Guide, published by Springer in 2007, and the self-help health book, What To Do When Your Child Is Heavy, published by IHA in 2009.
As its CEO, Mr. Villaire leads IHAs health literacy initiatives:
Pam Williams, MHA
Cancer and Chronic Disease Bureau, Maryland Department of Health
Pamela Williams is the Director for the Cancer & Chronic Disease Bureau at Maryland Department of Health. As the Director, Mrs. Williams is responsible for program operations of five centers which includes the Center for Cancer Prevention and Control, the Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Control, the Center for Tobacco Prevention and Control, the Office of Oral Health, and the Kidney Disease Program. Mrs. Williams is the person in charge of the Diabetes Population Health goal for the Statewide Integrated Health Improvement Strategy (SIHIS) and developing key initiatives to address diabetes prevention and control for the state. She’s worked at MDH for the past three years. Prior to working at MDH, Mrs. Williams has over twenty-five years of experience working at various federally qualified health centers and hospitals in Maryland, DC, and Chicago.