Dr. James Orbinski is a professor and the first Director of York University’s Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research. He has extensive experience in global health as a medical doctor, humanitarian practitioner, advocate, and best-selling author.

Dr. Orbinski has provided medical relief in various situations, including war, famine, epidemic disease, and genocide with Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF). He was elected International President of MSF from 1998-2001, accepted the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to MSF in 1999, and co-chaired the founding of the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative in 2004. Dr. Orbinski also co-founded Dignitas International, which trained over 12,000 Health Workers and supported more than 370,000 people with full treatment for HIV and AIDS in Malawi. He is a member of several global health bodies, including the Davos World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Health Care Systems and Cooperation.

Dr. Orbinski is the author of the award-winning and best-selling book An Imperfect Offering: Humanitarianism in the 21st Century. As the inaugural Director of the Dahdaleh Institute, Dr. Orbinski aims to make the institute a leader and catalyst in addressing global health issues. The Dahdaleh Institute focuses on Global Health and Humanitarianism, Planetary Health, and Global Health Foresighting. He is a member of the College of Family Physicians of Canada. An avid canoeist, Dr. Orbinski lives in Guelph, Ontario, with his wife and their three children.

Dr. Thupten Jinpa is a former Tibetan monk who holds the Geshe Lharam degree, as well as a B.A. in philosophy and a Ph.D. in religious studies, both from Cambridge University. Since 1985, he has been the principal English translator to H.H. the Dalai Lama and has translated and edited numerous books by the Dalai Lama, including the New York Times Bestsellers Ethics for the New Millennium and The Art of Happiness. Jinpa’s own publications include works in Tibetan, translations into English of major Tibetan texts in The Library of Tibetan Classics, as well as books, including A Fearless Heart: How the Courage To be Compassionate Can Transform Our Lives. Jinpa is the main author of CCT (Compassion Cultivation Training), an eight-week formal program developed at Stanford University and is a noted speaker on Buddhism and science dialogue, secular adaptations of mindfulness and compassion practices. He is a co-founder and president of the Compassion Institute, the Chair of Mind and Life Institute, founder of the Institute of Tibetan Classics, and an adjunct professor at the School of Religious Studies at McGill University. Jinpa lives in Montreal and is married with two daughters.

Dr. Dawn Lavell Harvard, Ph.D., is a proud member of the Wikwemikong First Nation, the first Aboriginal Trudeau Scholar, and since joining the Board of the Ontario Native Women’s Association as a youth director back in 1994, she has worked to advance the rights of Aboriginal women locally, nationally and internationally serving as President of the Ontario Native Women's Association, and the Native Women’s Association of Canada. She is currently helping youth achieve their dreams in her current role as Director for First Peoples House of Learning at Trent University.

Mary Gordon is recognized internationally as an award-winning social entrepreneur, educator, best-selling author, child advocate and parenting expert who has created programs informed by the power of empathy.

In 1981, Ms. Gordon founded Canada’s first and largest Parenting and Family Literacy Centers. In 1996, she created the Roots of Empathy program, after which she named her international children's charity which now offers programs on three continents. In 2005, she created Seeds of Empathy for young children which is offered in Canada, the U.S. and U.K.

Ms. Gordon speaks and consults to governments, educational organizations, and public institutions. Ms. Gordon has consulted with and/or presented to the UN, the WHO, UNICEF, The Nelson Mandela Children’s Foundation, and to governments. She is a regular keynote speaker at conferences and has several TEDx talks. She has been honoured with the Governor General of Canada Award for innovation, is a recipient of the Order of Canada, Order of Ontario, and Order of Newfoundland and Labrador, and is also the recipient of honorary doctorates in Canada and Europe.

Mary Ito has a long history of broadcasting and has been a Toronto based broadcast journalist for over 30 years in radio and television. Mary hosted Fresh Air, CBC Radio One’s regional weekend radio program in Ontario. She worked at TVOntario for five years as host of a daily talk show called More to Life which covered an eclectic range of topics in health, education, arts and culture, business and family issues. Mary was also the host of Second Opinion on TVO – a panel show which dealt with controversial issues in health. She also worked at Global TV as the anchor of a daily health report called Health Matters. She is also the founder of CRAM Cities Learning Festivals and the host of The CRAM Podcast which highlights exciting research and ideas of Canadian scientists and big thinkers. Mary is very active in her community and currently sits on the board of Roots of Empathy.