Programme

Pierre Côté,  DC PhD

Professor Côté is an epidemiologist and a chiropractor who holds the Hann-Kelly Family Chair in Disability and Rehabilitation Research and the Ontario Tech University Research Excellence Chair in Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation. He is the Director of the Institute for Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation (IDRR) at Ontario Tech University, Director of the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center on Rehabilitation and Musculoskeletal Health, and Chair of the IDRR unit of the Cochrane Collaboration Thematic Group – Functioning, Disability and Rehabilitation. Côté is also appointed as a Professor of Epidemiology at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the  University of Toronto, Adjunct Professor of Disability Prevention at Southern Denmark University, and as Honorary Professor, School of Physiotherapy, MGM Institute of Health Sciences, Navi Mumbai, India. His current research focuses on understanding “why” people experience limitations in functioning, and “how” can rehabilitation be of benefit to individuals with musculoskeletal pain.

Sallie Lamb,  DSc DPhil FMedSci FCSP FBOA

Professor, Sallie Lamb is Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean of the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, and Mireille Gillings Professor of Health Innovation at the University of Exeter.  She is an internationally recognised scholar in ageing, disability, and rehabilitation, and an experienced methodologist in the area of clinical trials and high-quality evaluation of health care practice.

Sallie is Director of the recently established NIHR Exeter Biomedical Research Centre (BRC).  She has a strong commitment to improving the lives of older people through excellent research that answers difficult questions and can inform policy making and commissioning. Sallie has worked with many research and clinical teams to deliver clinical trials that have influenced clinical guidance and impacted practice in lower back pain, neck injury, spinal fracture, osteoporosis and fall prevention.

Alejandro (Alex) Jadad, MD DPhil LLD

Dr. Jadad is a physician, innovator, and philosopher who has transformed medicine and healthcare through his work on networks of trust, digital health, and evidence-based strategies. For over 30 years, he has developed "high-tech and high-touch" approaches combining clinical research, user-centered design, multi-stakeholder engagement, and AI to shape healthcare systems with public and private sector leaders, worldwide.

He earned his Doctor of Philosophy from Oxford, where his thesis on meta-analysis of pain relief trials led to new tools for knowledge synthesis, and to the Jadad scale— the world's most widely used tool for assessing clinical trial quality. He founded the Centre for Digital Therapeutics in Toronto, a simulator of the future, and has authored 12 books and hundreds of scientific publications.

As a member of the Public Health Leadership Coalition, assembled by the World Federation of Public Health Associations, he explores new ways to tackle humanity's most pressing health challenges.

Sara Rubinelli,  PhD

Professor Sara Rubinelli is a dynamic leader in health communication and rehabilitation sciences. With a foundation in Classics and Philosophy from the Catholic University of Milan and a PhD in argumentation theory from the University of Leeds, her expertise bridges the art of persuasion with the science of health. 

She is a Full Professor and Vice-Dean of Health Sciences at the University of Lucerne, specialising in person-centred healthcare and innovative communication strategies. She also leads the Person-Centred Healthcare/Health Communication Group at Swiss Paraplegic Research and co-directs the University of Lucerne’s Centre for Rehabilitation in Global Health Systems, including its WHO Collaborating Centre. 

A member of the World Rehabilitation Alliance and the Cochrane Group on Rehabilitation, Functioning, and Disability, Sara aims to shape global health policies. As former President of the European Association for Communication in Healthcare (2016-2022), she inspires collaboration and innovation at the intersection of research, practice, and policy.