Conference Schedule
Please note: The conference schedule is tentative and may be subject to change as program details and speaker availability are finalized.
Friday, May 1, 2026
Registration & Continental Breakfast
Opening Ceremony - Territorial Welcome and Introductory Remarks by the University of Waterloo President
Speakers:
Elder Peter Schuler
President Vivek Goel
Plenary #1: Migration
Speakers:
Apostolos Veizis
Bernadette Kumar
Jose Pablo Baraybar (virtual)
Networking Break
Simultaneous Workshops
Session 1 (GH Local):
The Shape of Story
Speakers:
James Gordon
Jessica Murray
Session 2 (Peace):
Strengthening Our Capacity for Peace: Professional Values and Competencies for Peace Work.
Speaker:
Nathan Funk
Session 3 (GH International):
Securing WHO Action on Small Arms Trade & Commercial Determinants of the Arms Industry
Speakers:
Steve Hargarten
Dean Peacock
Jocalyn Clark
Session 4 (Sustainability):
Grounded in Relationship: Advancing Indigenous Land-Based Learning at the University of Waterloo.
Speakers:
John Lewis
Session 5 (Migration):
Language and Identity: The Price of Assimilation for Immigrants – A Mental Health Perspective
Speaker:
Naina Shakdher Menon
Session 6 (Francophone):
“Café-rencontre” pour favoriser les échanges informels, renforcer le réseau francophone et créer des liens pour des collaborations futures.
Networking Lunch / Exhibits / Posters Viewing
Simultaneous Oral Presentations Sessions
Session 1 (Ethics & Global Equity):
1- Equity and Health Inequalities in Ethiopia. Sintayehu Wolka
2- Decolonizing Academic Global Health Partnerships: Power, Resistance, and Epistemic Justice in HIC–LMIC Partnerships. Robin Enns
3- The World Expected More of Canada: Canada and the Pandemic Agreement. Joel Lexchin
Session 2 (Disease Management):
1- Health system capacity for non-communicable disease management amid extreme weather events in the Philippines: A qualitative study. Monica Bustos
2- Exploring access to healthcare among low-income older adults with a non-communicable disease amid extreme weather events in Leyte, Philippines. Hannah Rayel
3- New Frontiers in TB Control: AI-Driven Screening in Refugee Settings in Kenya. Dennis Opondo
Session 3 (Training & Intercultural Competency):
1- Translation of EDID Policies into Practice in the Canadian Healthcare System: Co-creating a Pan-Canadian Research Agenda, Network, and Partnerships + Telehealth Utilization for Immigrant and Refugee Populations: Co-Production and Cultural Tailoring or Refugee Health Provider Education. Saleema or Amaya Alex Ramos
2- The Use of Cultural consensus modeling to understand Chagas disease knowledge and beliefs: A tool to improve public health strategies. Hillary Smith
3- Delivering Culturally Safe Mental Health Support for Afghan Newcomers in Brantford: A Practice-Based Psychoeducation Model. Hadi Rasooli/Yaqoob Bromand
Session 4 (Climate Adaptation):
1- Drought, Drink, and Drug Use in Rural Zimbabwean Farming Communities: Assessing Adaptive and Maladaptive Coping Responses to Climate Change. Jobb Arnold
2- Knowledge and Perception for Transformative Water Security in Panama City Metropolitan Area: San Miguelito District Case Study. Ivonne Morales
3- ’I usually get support from family members’: Smallholder farmers’ coping strategies with syndemics of climate change events and NCDs in northern Ghana. Alhassan Siiba
Session 5 (Migrant Support):
1- Parenting through crisis: Rohingya families wellbeing in displacement. Bree Akesson
2- Precarious by Design: Migrant Personal Support Workers, Colonial Policy Regimes, and Pathways Toward Ethical Care Relations. Veen Wong
3- Sexual and reproductive health needs of refugee women on Lesbos, Greece: a participatory cross-sectional study. Celine Chen
Session 6 (Francophone):
1- L’éthique de la vulnérabilité partagée comme principe de justice sanitaire : une lecture philosophique de la santé mondiale [The Ethics of Shared Vulnerability as a Principle of Health Justice: A Philosophical Reading of Global Health]. Keumian Anicet DAGUI
2- Cartographier la formation au Québec pour outiller les résidents en médecine familiale à répondre aux besoins des réfugiées et demandeurs d’asile [Mapping training in Quebec to equip family medicine residents to meet the needs of refugees and asylum seekers]. Emilie Gélinas
3- HUMI-CARE – Les groupes réflexifs comme outil de formation interculturelle en médecine de famille : Exemple du GMF-U Bordeaux-Cartierville (QC). Charlotte SERRANO
Transition Time
Plenary #2: Environmental Sustainability
Advocacy for Planetary Health, health effects of climate change, healthy by nature
Speakers:
Katharine Hayhoe (virtual)
Melissa Lem (virtual)
Courtney Howard
Artistic Performance & Closing Remarks
Speaker:
Del O Jaan Choir
Welcome Reception / United College - Alumni Hall
Performer:
Diego Carneiro
Saturday, May 2, 2026
Registration & Continental Breakfast
Opening - Friday Recap
Keynote Address
Speaker:
Ziauddin Yousafzai
Plenary #3: Peace
Speakers:
Bree Akesson
Nurit Peled-Elhanan (virtual)
Samira Alayan (virtual)
Transition Time
Simultaneous Workshops
Session 1 (Migration): Translating evidence into policy action for improved refugee and migrant health
Speakers:
Rahima Khushi
James Achuli
Miriam Orcutt
Session 2 (Peace): A Workforce for Peace & Health: Scaling Medical Peace Work Training for Medical Students in Kenya and Africa
Speaker:
Dennis Opondo
Session 3 (GH Local):
CFMS Workshop
Speaker:
Hassait Hilawe
Session 4 (GH International):
Global Health Watch 7: Transforming Capitalism’s Health Polycrisis
Speaker:
Ronald Labonte
Session 5 (Sustainability)
War and the Environment
Speaker:
Amira Aker
Session 6 (Francophone):
Responsabilité sociale en santé: perspectives francophones et expériences internationales
Speakers:
Carmel Bouclaous
Ahmed Maherzi
Charles Boelen
Pakisa Tshimika
Networking Lunch / Exhibits / Posters Viewing
Simultaneous Oral Presentations Sessions
Session 1 (GH International – PLENARY):
Gaza Rebuilding
Speakers:
Mohammed Shaheen
Ali Ardalan
Yara Asi
Session 2 (Food & Nutrition):
1- Upstream on the river of chronic disease prevention: Leveraging the education system to build nutrition and food literacy across generations. Leanne De Souza-Kenney
2- An overview of food systems injustices experienced by marginalised groups: A rapid scoping review of reviews. Amar Laila
3- Narrating Food Sovereignty as Planetary Health: Exploring Ecological Food Abundance Through Digital Storytelling. Jade Crimson Rose
Session 3 (Climate & Social Vulnerability):
1- From Conflict to Climate Crisis: How Rohingya Families Rebuild Home in Bangladesh. Bree Akesson
2- Climate Change, Health Inequities, and Social Marginalization in Pakistan: An Intersectional Analysis of Adaptation Gaps. Nabeela Farah
3- Exploring access to healthcare among low-income older adults with a non-communicable disease amid extreme weather events in Leyte, Philippines. Hannah Rayel
Session 4 (Strengthening Health Systems):
1- Barriers and facilitators to antibiotic stewardship in Nigeria’s private healthcare sector: a qualitative study with regulatory interest holders. Aaya Mahdi
2- A Mixed Methods Analysis of Botswana’s System for HIV Service Delivery and Response. Benjamin Roberts
3- Translation of EDID Policies into Practice in the Canadian Healthcare System: Co-creating a Pan-Canadian Research Agenda, Network, and Partnerships. Saleema Allen
Session 5 (Immigrant Mental Health GH Local):
1- “We Move Regardless”: How Black African Immigrants Navigate Settlement, Mental Well-Being, and Support Services in Ontario. Carita Ehinomen Oko-Oboh
2- The Immigration Enforcement and Spillover Stress Framework. Joelle Taknint
3- The ketogenic diet as adjunctive treatment for serious mental illness: Intersections with global health equity, justice, and sustainability. Julia Russell Jozkow
Session 6 (Francophone):
1- Co Construire une recherche interventionnelle avec des survivantes de trafic sexuel au Sénégal : opportunités et enjeux pour la recherche participative. Oumar Mallé Samb
2- Projet “Triple Nexus et santé inclusive” (NexSa) au Cameroun et Haiti : promouvoir le pouvoir d’agir des femmes et filles déplacées et survivantes de violence sexuelle et sexiste. Michèle Rietmann/Samuel Bate
3- Compétences et valeurs de paix : quelle pertinence pour les professionnels de la santé dans des contextes post-conflit?.Marjan Montazemi
Transition Time
Plenary #4: Global Health Local
The Importance of Employment for Demarginalization of Vulnerable/underserved Populations including Refugees
Speakers:
Jim Estill
Joe Mancini
Doug Jones
Transition Time
Simultaneous Workshops
Session 1 (Peace):
The Humanitarian and Health Crisis of Africa’s Hidden Deadly Wars
Speakers:
Mulugeta Gebregziabher
Barry Levy
Shawna Novak
Session 2 (GH Local):
Invisible Hands, Visible Harm: Advancing Health Equity for Migrant Agricultural Workers in Canada
Speaker:
Janet McLaughlin
Session 3 (GH International)
Decolonizing Mental Health in the Context of War.
Speakers:
Audrey Mc Mahon
Amy Gajaria
Session 4 (Sustainability)
Session 5 (Migration):
Afghan Mental Health in Brantford Ontario
Speakers:
Hadi Rasooli
Yaqoob Bromand
Session 6 (Francophone):
Nexus migration et changement climatique au Québec -Évaluer la polarisation sociale, la santé et le sentiment d’appartenance dans le contexte des migrations climatiques
Speakers:
Gabriel Blouin-Genest
Natalia Torres Orozco
An Evening of Dialogue, Conviviality, Food and Song
Featuring a fireside chat with Ziauddin Yousafzai and live entertainment with James Gordon and Diego Carneiro.
Sunday, May 3, 2026
Registration & Continental Breakfast
Reflection Time
Welcome Remarks
Plenary #5: Global Health International
The “Donroe doctrine”-Venezuela, Greenland and the effects on the Rules-Based International Order (JORGE)
Reforming International Development to Impact Global Health, Peace and Security (KEITH)
Bridging the Gap: Scaling Innovative Solutions for an Interconnected World (FAWAD). Global health in crisis: what is the role of a medical journal? (JOCALYN)
Speakers:
Jorge Heine (virtual)
Keith Martin
Fawad Akbari
Jocalyn Clark
Transition Time
Simultaneous Workshops
Session 1 (Plenary):
Santé mentale en zones de guerre: l’Ukraine et la Palestine. The semantic inflation of trauma: an obstacle to optimal mental health resources allocation in Ukraine. Whats traumatic about trauma: in peace, war and conflict areas
Speakers:
Rachel Thibeault
Clare Pain
Session 2 (Peace):
Human Rights Defenders
Speaker:
Nadia Abu Zahra
Session 3 (GH International):
Criminalization of Humanitarian Impulse-Lessons from Europe.
Speaker:
Apostolos Veizis
Session 4 (Sustainability):
Extractivism and Global Change
Speaker:
Darren Wynes
Session 5 (Migration):
Occupational Therapy: Promoting Mental Health for Refugees Through Doing
Speakers:
Rachel Rogers, MOT, OTR/L
Cassandra Mattix, MOT, OTR/L
Breeanna Host, OTD, OTR/L
Session 6:
Challenges and Opportunities with Right to Health in Gaza.
Speakers:
Valerie Percival
Michael Lynk
Yara Asi
Networking Lunch
Simultaneous Oral Presentations Sessions
Session 1 (Sustainability – PLENARY):
Panel on community transformative change, political justice, energy transition education, and biodiversity loss. Alison Blay-Palmer/Tracey Lue
Session 2 (Peace & Post-Conflict):
Enhancing Peace Work in Uncertain Times: Findings from the Peace Professionalism Project. Nathan Funk
Session 3 (Gender-Based Violence):
1- A Socio-Ecological Analysis of Intimate Partner Violence Among women of reproductive age in Nigeria. Ebenezer Kwesi Armah-Ansah
2- Save Our Sisters: Community-Driven Strategies to Address Health Impacts of Female Genital Cutting. Doris Mukangu
Session 4 (Community Health Equity):
1- Championing Health Equity: Confronting the Pandemic’s Disproportionate Impact on Black Communities in Low-Income Neighbourhoods. Fitzroy Thompson
2- What young carers carry: The weight of school-related burdens for youth who live in poverty and help their families make ends meet. Jen Vasic
3- Telehealth Utilization for Immigrant and Refugee Populations: Co-Production and Cultural Tailoring. Saleema Allan
Session 5 (Migrant Health):
1- Building capacity in the face of scarcity: A health training program for Rohingya refugee women in Bangladesh. Bree Akesson
2- A narrative review of best practices supporting health literacy among newcomer and migrant populations worldwide. Karen Hock
3- Assessing Social Polarization, Health, and Belonging in the Context of Climate Migration. Gabriel Blouin-Genest
Session 6 (Francophone):
1- Adaptation de l’offre de soins des professionnels de première ligne dans un contexte d’insécurité au Mali. Michèle Rietmann
2- Violence comme enjeu de santé et les traumatismes liés aux conflits. Pakisa Tshimika
3- Expérience de délocalisation de la formation médicale dans les centres de santé communautaires. Mali. Mahamane M Maïga (à distance)/Sarah Stecko
The Action Agenda: Global Health, Education & Public Policy
Speaker:
Keith Martin et al.
Closing Ceremony, Musical Performance
Speaker:
James Gordon
Jessica Murray
Save the Date: Interconnected Futures Conference!
Join us May 1-3, 2026 for Interconnected Futures: Pathways to Justice in Global Health, Peace and Sustainability, hosted by Pegasus Institute