Leading and Designing for Health Equity

Fostering more equitable care in your personal and professional environments

Date: March 1st, 2024; 9:00AM-10:30AM ET

9:00-10:30am | Interactive Virtual Panel Discussion with Q&A
Paradoxical as it may sound, achieving health equity benefits from a business and human-centered lens. Join a panel of Bentley University thought leaders to explore how businesses can work across sectors to expedite current efforts to achieve health equity locally and globally. The conversation will also explore how government, business, and academic institutions might work together to design and coordinate health equity efforts. Attendees will leave empowered with specific tools for creating more equitable care in their personal and professional environments.

Panelists: Danielle Blanch Hartigan | Bentley University Center for Health and Business, Janelle Estes | Bentley University User Experience and Design Center, Yaro Fong-Olivares | Bentley University Center for Women and Business

Danielle Blanch Hartigan (PhD, MPH) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Natural and Applied Sciences and Executive Director of the Center for Health and Business at Bentley University. She holds a PhD in Psychology from Northeastern University, an MPH from Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and completed postdoctoral training at the National Cancer Institute. Her interdisciplinary research in psychology and public health aims to improve the patient and provider experience and foster patient-centered care delivery through better communication. She has given workshops on clinical communication for academic institutions, hospital systems, and Fortune 100 healthcare companies. In 2020, she was named as one of the 40 Under 40 in Cancer. Dr. Blanch Hartigan has published over 80 articles in peer-reviewed journals across psychology, health communication, and medicine.

Janelle Estes (M.S.), with over 20 years in the industry, has notably advanced customer-centric strategies, beginning her journey at Forrester Research and most recently holding the role as Chief Insights Officer at UserTesting. A respected figure in transforming global firms by applying deep customer understanding and insight, her career includes roles at Nielsen Norman Group and contributions across in-house and agency settings. An author, keynote speaker, podcast host, and a thought leader featured in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and Fast Company, Janelle’s academic prowess is rooted in a M.S. in Human Factors and Information Design from Bentley University.

Yaro Fong-Olivares (she/her), M.S. – is an Afro-Caribbean and Chinese immigrant from the island of Ayiti and Quisqueya (now known as the Dominican Republic and Haiti), Washington Heights, and now living in Massachusetts. Her most salient identity is as a priest of Yemaya in the Lucumi spiritual tradition. She serves as Executive Director of Gloria Cordes Larson Center for Women and Business at Bentley University, an organization dedicated to advancing intersectional gender equity from the classroom to the boardroom. Yaro is also an Organizational and Leadership Psychology PsyD candidate at William James College; she has an M.S. in Organizational Change Management from the Milano School of Management at The New School; and a B.A. Sociology, Barnard College, Columbia University. As an Organizational development leader focusing on racial justice, equity, and inclusion, she has developed and delivered programs worldwide that focus on advancing an intersectional equity-centered approach to complex, often covert workplace dynamics. As part of her commitment to learning and to be of service, she is the Past President of the Executive Committee for the New York Center; a Member of the Center for the Study of Groups and Social Systems; a Co-Creator, of Group Relations International; and a Certified Consultant, at AK Rice Institute for the Study of Social Systems. As a former personal trainer, she is a big fan of High-Intensity Training and Yoga.