Cindy Brach was the lead for health literacy and cultural competence at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and co-chaired the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Literacy Workgroup. Brach led the creation of many important health literacy tools and resources including the AHRQ Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit, the discussion paper, “Ten Attributes of a Health Literate Health Care Organization,” from the Roundtable on Health Literacy, and PEMAT, the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool.Now retired, Brach reflects on the evolution of the fi ..read more

Aditya Tummala and Beier Nelson are Co-Founders and Executive Directors of The Health Fluency Project. Their goal is to use AI (Artificial Intelligence) and other technology to help dismantle barriers that prevent people from accessing health services. Tummala is an undergrad student at Harvard College studying Biomedical Engineering. His primary focus is on socioeconomic disparities that act as health care barriers in rural and marginalized communities. Nelson is also an undergrad at Harvard College. With a dual concentration in Molecular & Cellular Biology and Government, he is look ..read more

Rear Admiral (RDML) Paul Reed, MD is the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health, the Director of the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, a pediatrician, and a senior U.S. Public Health Service Officer. His primary responsibility is to advise the Assistant Secretary for Health on disease prevention and health promotion programs and policies. Additionally, RDML Reed provides direction and oversight for national health initiatives such as Healthy People 2030, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, and the President’s Council on Spo ..read more

Akila Muthukumar graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College with a major in human developmental and regenerative biology and a minor in English. Muthukumar helped establish and lead a question-listing service at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. She also has done a lot of writing, including for the health and medicine website, STAT News. She hopes to combine these interests as a physician-writer. This year, Muthukumar is living in rural south India (where she recorded this podcast) and working at a nonprofit dedicated to people with intellectual disabilities. In this podcast ..read more

Katie Leath MPH, MA, is Director of the Center for Health Literacy at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS). Leath is a passionate health communicator who brings years of experience in making health information easy to read, understand, and use. She leads a team of health literacy experts who create and edit health-related materials for patients and consumers. Leath brings to all this work her training in marketing, public health, and applied communication studies. In this podcast, Katie Leath talks with Helen Osborne about: The process of taking health materials written in E ..read more

Richard Lui is an award-winning journalist with more than 30 years in media, technology, and business. He has served as a television news anchor at MSNBC, NBC News, and CNN Worldwide. Among his many accomplishments, Lui spent 15 years in business, serves on boards at non-profit organizations and for-profit firms, and is an ambassador for non-government organizations (NGO’s) focusing on issues of gender equality and human trafficking. Lui is author of the book Enough About Me and director of two documentary films. His first film SkyBlossom, was inspired by his own long-distance caregiving for h ..read more

Dr. Mark V. Williams serves as Professor & Chief of the Division of Hospital Medicine at the Washington University School of Medicine and BJC HealthCare in Saint Louis, Missouri. Dr. Williams established the first hospitalist program in a U.S. public hospital and continues to promote the role of hospitalists as leaders in the delivery of health care. In addition, he is an active researcher whose work focuses on quality improvement, care transitions, teamwork, and the role of health literacy in the delivery of health care. In this podcast. Mark Williams talks with Helen Osborne about: “Ina ..read more

Claire Wardle, PhD, is co-founder and co-director of the Information Futures Lab and Professor of the Practice at Brown University’s School of Public Health. Wardle is considered a leader in the field of misinformation, verification, and user generated content. Among her many accomplishments, Wardle developed an organization-wide training program about eyewitness media for the British Broadcasting Company and was a Fellow at the Shorenstein Center for Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School. In this podcast, Claire Wardle talks with Helen Osborne about: Artificial I ..read more

LouAnn Bala MSN, RN, brings a background as clinical nurse educator and health coach to her work at Get Well. Her publications and research aim to improve quality and safety for patients, further the study of alternative and lifestyle medicine, and build the case for using technology to improve care delivery. Bala has created numerous patient education materials on topics about youth mental health, transmittable diseases, and civility in the workplace. In this podcast, LouAnn Bala talks with Helen Osborne about: The impact of civility on human interaction and the importance of respecting ..read more

Diana Zuckerman, Ph.D. is President of the National Center for Health Research, a nonprofit think tank that conducts and analyzes research on a wide range of healthcare and health policy issues. She and a team use this research to inform policies and programs that affect the health of adults and children. Among her many accomplishments, Diana Zuckerman has testified about the safety and efficacy of medical and consumer products before the U.S. Congress, federal agencies, state legislative committees, and the Canadian Parliament. In this podcast, Diana Zuckerman talks with Helen Osborne ab ..read more