Mary Ann Abrams, MD, MPH
Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics
The Ohio State University College of Medicine
Primary Care Pediatrician, Nationwide Children’s Hospital
Dr. Mary Ann Abrams is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine, and Primary Care Pediatrician at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.
She is co-investigator for the US DHHS Office of Minority Health grant, Building A Health Literate Community: Toward an Equitable Response to COVID-19, focusing on capacity-building for sustainable Franklin County community organizational health literacy infrastructure to reduce health disparities. She collaborates to lead health literacy-informed quality, safety, and equity initiatives and medical school curriculum development.
Dr. Abrams strives to illustrate how health literacy is integral to all dimensions of health and health care and how it is fundamental to equity, quality, safety, and patient- and family-centered care. Connecting the dots between theory and practice, she has led development of tools, resources, and training to support organizational health literacy. She has 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
Endowed Chair and Director
Horowitz Center for Health Literacy
University of Maryland, School of Public Health
Dr. Cynthia Baur, is a health literacy and health communication expert focused on improving health literacy at the individual, family, community and organizational levels. She directs the University of Maryland Horowitz Center for Health Literacy, the nation's first academic health literacy center, and is a professor in the Department of Behavioral and Community Health. In 2022, Dr. Baur and other advocates worked with Maryland Delegate Joseline Peña-Melnyk, who sponsored Maryland HB1082, to designate the Horowitz Center as the state's consumer health information hub. Dr. Baur is the Principal Investigator on multiple federal and state funded projects on health literacy, clear communication, digital health, diabetes prevention and organizational health literacy improvement. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Center provided communications support to Maryland local health departments and coalitions, and pre- and post-pandemic, the Center supports the Maryland Department of Health and local health departments on the state's diabetes action plan. Dr. Baur provides training and expert advice to local, state, and national committees and initiatives. Before coming to UMD, she served for almost 20 years in the federal Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She was CDC's Plain Language and Health Literacy Lead from 2011 to 2016.
Daniella Gratale, MA
Associate Vice President of Federal Affairs Nemours Children’s Health
Ms. Daniella Gratale is the Associate Vice President, Federal Affairs at Nemours Children’s Health. In this role, Daniella oversees policy development and advocacy to advance Nemours Children’s federal agenda through engagement with Congress, the Administration and national experts. She also leads integration of Enterprise federal and state public policy. Daniella and her team forge relationships with a politically diverse federal congressional delegation, as well as national organizations and health systems, to promote policies that support the healthiest generations of children. She also serves as a Steering Committee member for the Whole Child Health Alliance. Prior to joining Nemours, Daniella served as Government Relations Manager at Trust for America’s Health, a nonprofit organization devoted to strengthening the public health system. Previously, she worked as a Legislative Correspondent and then as a Legislative Assistant for the late Congresswoman Julia Carson. Daniella holds an MA from George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management and a BA from the College of New Jersey.
Cindy Brach, MPP
Senior Health Care ResearcherAgency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)Co-Chair, Health Literacy Work GroupU.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
As the lead for AHRQ’s health literacy activities, Cindy’s projects have included thedevelopment of the AHRQ Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit, CAHPS®Item Sets for Addressing Health Literacy, AHRQ Informed Consent andAuthorization Toolkit for Minimal Risk Research, Making Informed Consent anInformed Choice: Training Modules for Health Care Leaders and Professionals,and the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool (PEMAT).Cindy served on the National Academy of Medicine’s Roundtable on HealthLiteracy, where she led an effort to define the ten attributes of a health literateorganization. Cindy is a founding Editorial Board member of the journal HLRP:Health Literacy Research and Practice. She is a frequent speaker at nationalconferences and on webinars, and has published book chapters, blogs, andauthored or contributed to over 80 publications in journals such as HealthAffairs, HLRP: Health Literacy Research and Practice, Journal of General InternalMedicine, Journal for Healthcare Quality, Journal of Health Communication, andMedical Care.
Stan Hudson, MA, CDFT
Director of Health Literacy
Wisconsin Health Literacy, Inc.
Mr. Stan Hudson is the Health Literacy Director for Wisconsin Literacy, Inc. He is a health literacy expert and health policy analyst with almost 25 years of experience in health services research and over 15 years of experience in health literacy with a focus on curriculum development. He earned an M.A. in Sociology from the University of Missouri with a focus on race, class, and gender inequalities and earned B.A.s in History, Political Science, and Sociology from Columbia College. Over the last two decades he has led the development and implementation of health literacy and health equity education programs and curricula for health professionals and communities. For the past 3 years, he has been working on an extensive project to improve prescription medication labels in Wisconsin, making them easier to understand to increase adherence and reduce medication errors.
Karen Komondor, RN, BSN, CCRN
Founder, President Health Literacy 360, LLC
Chair, National Council to Improve Patient Safety through Health Literacy
Ms. Karen Komondor is the Founder and President of Health Literacy 360 LLC, whose mission is to reduce communication barriers within the complex healthcare system and decrease the burden on patients. For over 20 years, Karen served as the Director of Organizational Development and the Health Literacy Institute at St. Vincent Charity Medical Center, an urban teaching hospital in the heart of downtown Cleveland, Ohio until its closing in Nov. 2022. Karen has provided training and keynote speeches at numerous healthcare facilities and conferences at the local, state, and national levels for the past 16 years. She has authored several articles and has been a guest speaker for radio programs and local TV Stations as well as the National Academy of Medicine’s Round Table on Health Literacy in Washington D.C. She is also a regular guest faculty for health literacy at multiple universities. She is the former chair of Healthy Cleveland’s Health Literacy Committee and is the immediate past president and co-founder of Ohio Health Literacy Partners, a state-wide, non-profit collaborative whose mission is to empower all Ohioans to make informed health choices. She is most recently chair of the National Council to Improve Patient Safety through Health Literacy.
Genelle R. S. Lamont, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor, Memory Keepers Medical Discovery Team
Department of Family Medicine & Biobehavioral Health
University of Minnesota, School of Medicine, Duluth Campus
Interim Chair, Minnesota Health Literacy Partnership
Dr. Genelle Lamont (Bad River Ojibwe) is an assistant professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Biobehavioral Health at the University of Minnesota School of Medicine Duluth, Memory Keepers, Medical Discovery Team. She holds a doctorate in occupational health research and policy from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. Her primary research interests include chronic disease and dementia, AI/AN and rural health, health literacy, health equity, cultural humility, and geographic information systems. She has trained over 300 dental health professionals in health literacy through a HRSA funded training program with Normandale Community College and has been involved in several health literacy projects with the Minnesota Health Literacy Partnership, the Health Literacy Regional Network, and the National Council to Improve Patient Safety through Health Literacy.
Wilma Alvarado-Little, MA, MSW
Associate Commissioner New York State Department of Health
Director, Office of Minority Health & Health Disparities Prevention
Ms. Alvarado-Little is the Associate Commissioner and Director of the New York State Department of Health Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities Prevention. She has focused on racial and health equity issues from a linguistic and cultural perspective in addition to her interests in public policy, research, health literacy and health disparities prevention. She has been instrumental in the development and implementation of hospital and clinic-based programs and policy. She is the former Co-chair of the Board of the National Council on Interpreting in Health Care, serves as a member of the National Project Advisory Committee for the Review of the CLAS Standards, HHS Office of Minority Health, and has served as a member of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine Roundtable on Health Literacy and has served as Chair of the New York State Office of Mental Health Multicultural Advisory Committee. She also serves on various boards, at the state and local levels, which address racial and health inequities and disparities and is a champion for the provision of quality language access services. She has a Master Arts degree in Spanish Literature and a Master’s in Social Welfare.
Catina O’Leary, PhD, LMSW (she/her)
President & CEO
Health Literacy Media
Catina O’Leary, PhD, LMSW, is President and CEO at Health Literacy Media (HLM), a St. Louis based nonprofit that develops and distributes health literate and accessible health and science communications. Before joining HLM in 2012, Dr. O’Leary led large-scale, community engaged research trials in the U.S. and around the world. She is currently a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Roundtable on Health Literacy and the International Health Literacy Association’s (IHLA) Board of Directors and serves as the Chair of the IHLA Council of Affairs.
Greg O’Neill, MSN, APRN, AGCNS-BC, NPD-BC
Director, Patient & Family Health Education, Nursing Professional Development
ChristianaCare
As Director of Patient and Family Health Education, Mr. Greg O’Neill leads the strategic plan for patient education and health literacy initiatives at ChristianaCare. After moving on from direct patient care as a trauma/surgical ICU nurse, he has developed a team of Nursing Professional Development Specialists who champion health literacy best practices systemwide and support all manner of patient education initiatives and vendor relationships. Mr. O’Neill has been with ChristianaCare for 14 years and received his MSN as a CNS from the University of Delaware.
Helen Osborne, M.Ed., OTR/L
Founder/President
Health Literacy Consulting
Ms. Helen Osborne helps professionals communicate health information in ways that patients and the public can understand. She brings to this work her experience as an occupational therapist, training as an educator, and perspective as a patient. Helen is president of Health Literacy Consulting, founder of Health Literacy Month, and author of the award-winning text, Health Literacy from A to Z: Practical Ways to Communicate Your Health Message. She also hosts two podcast series, Health Literacy Out Loud and Talking About Blood. In 2017, Helen was honored to receive the Alvarez Award for excellence in health communication from the American Medical Writers Association.
Michael Villaire, MSLM
President/CEO
Institute for Healthcare Advancement
Mr. Michael Villaire is President and CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Advancement (IHA), a healthcare nonprofit 501(c)(3) public charity dedicated to advancing health literacy toward health equity. Mr. Villaire has written numerous articles and lectures nationally on various aspects of health literacy. He is co-author of the textbook, Health Literacy in Primary Care-A Clinicians Guide, published by Springer, 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 IHA’s health literacy initiatives. His background includes 20 years as managing editor of several medical and nursing peer reviewed journals. He earned baccalaureate degrees in English and Communications from Western Michigan University, and a master’s degree in Organizational Leadership and Management from the University of La Verne, La Verne, California.
Teresa Wagner, DrPH, MS, CPH, RD/LD, CPPS, CHWI, DipACLM, CHWC
Assistant Professor, Department of Lifestyle Health Sciences, School of Health Professionals
Assistant Professor, Department of Health Behavior and Health Systems, School of Public Health
University of North Texas Health Science Center
Interim Director and Clinical Executive for Health Literacy, SaferCare Texas
Director, UNTHSC Texas State Certified CHW/CHWI Training Program
Fellow and Project Director, Texas Center for Health Disparities
Dr. Teresa Wagner is a registered and licensed dietitian with a doctorate in public health. She’s certified in Public Health, Patient Safety, Lifestyle Medicine, Health Coaching and a certified Community Health Worker Instructor. She’s an assistant professor in the Department of Personalized Health & Well-Being, School of Health Professionals and the Department of Health Behavior and Health Systems, School of Public Health at the University of North Texas Health Science Center. Dr. Wagner has delivered multiple programs, speaking engagements and trainings on health literacy issues. Additionally, she established both a multi-stakeholder health literacy collaborative with the DFW Hospital Council Foundation and Health Literacy Texas, a statewide nonprofit. Dr. Wagner has testified on health literacy legislation in Texas which helped place health literacy into the State Health Plan. At the same time, her research focuses on alleviating health disparities in underserved communities through health literacy to improve population health. As a result of her work, she has received both the 2018 Texas Health Literacy Hero Award as well as the 2020 Distinguished Alumni Award from Texas Christian University. In 2022, she was one of 25 National Institute of Health selected researchers to study the use of artificial intelligence to abate health disparities and in 2023, she received the UNTHSC School of Health Professions Faculty Achievement Award.
