Speaker Category: Keynote speakers

A playwright, author, musician, and multilingual speaker, Tomson Highway is an award-winning and multi-talented Aboriginal artist. Highway has also found time to complement these great accomplishments with his work as a social worker, native artistic director, adjunct professor, and world traveller.

A full-blood Cree, he is a registered member of the Barren Lands First Nation. He lived through the residential school system, faced prejudice, and struggled to have his work recognized.  

He’s the author of numerous bestselling books including Kiss of the Fur Queen and Permanent Astonishment: Growing Up in the Land of Snow and Sky. He achieved international recognition with his multi-award-winning play THE REZ SISTER, followed by the even more successful DRY LIPS OUGHTA MOVE TO KAPUSKASING. It was the first Canadian play in the history of Canadian theatre ever to receive a full production and extended run at Toronto’s legendary Royal Alexandra Theatre.  

A member of the Order of Canada and the recipient of at least 10 honorary doctorates, Highway has shaped the development of aboriginal theatre in both Canada and around the world. He is one of Canada’s foremost aboriginal and creative voices. 

DY Suharya has more than 20 years of experience in public health, public private partnerships and communication. She worked as a Health Communication Consultant with the World Bank, WHO and UNICEF. She has taken the lead in supporting 20 Alzheimer’s Disease International members in the Asia Pacific in advocacy, leadership and capacity building initiatives.

Suharya holds a Master of Public Health (MPH) from Curtin University, Australia, a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism, from Ohio State University, USA and a Diploma in English Literature from the University of Indonesia.

• In 2022, the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing recognized Suharya as a “Healthy Ageing 50” leader for transforming the world to be a better place to grow older. Recently, she was also recognized as a Global Ageing Influencer by Ageing Asia.

Suharya holds a Master of Public Health (MPH) from Curtin University, Australia, a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism, from Ohio State University, USA and a Diploma in English Literature from the University of Indonesia.

Twitter handle: @DYSuharya

Ritu Sadana has more than 30 years of experience championing health equity in both public and private sectors in low, middle- and high-income countries. Sadana led the research and writing of the World Health Organization’s Decade of Healthy Ageing: baseline report, coordinated the development of the first WHO Global Strategy on Ageing and Health, including conceiving the objective towards the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing 2021-2030, and co-authored the WHO World Report on Ageing and Health.   

Sadana also leads the WHO Secretariat for the independent Council on the Economics of Health for All, which recently issued its Final Report. The document calls for a radical reorientation of economic and financial policy to increase public and private investments for health in multiple sectors.   

She is the principal investigator of WHO’s efforts to fill in evidence gaps and implement a life course approach in practice that connects a good start to life, healthy development and healthy ageing by involving policymakers, researchers and civil society in health, education, labour and social protection.   

She holds a Doctor of Science from Harvard University, an MSc in Public Health and a BA from University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), with expertise in economics, epidemiology, demography and health policy. Sadana has over 200 scientific and policy publications. 

Twitter:  @RituSadana