OHSU Health Literacy Symposium

Innovating for Better Results in Health Care, Education, and Research

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The 2026 OHSU Health Literacy Symposium will highlight health literacy and clear communication best practices in health care, education, and research. Attendees will learn how to identify patient equity, quality, and safety issues that are best approached with health literacy and clear communication solutions. Attendees will get hands-on skills practice in applying clear communication strategies to their work that can improve outcomes for all.

The symposium aims to help attendees:

  • Identify current communication barriers that affect health-related outcomes.
  • Apply health literacy best practices in health care, education, and research.
  • Use health literacy tools and communication resources in their area of practice.

The event will feature opening remarks by OHSU President, Dr. Shereef Elnahal, a lunch and poster session, two plenary talks, one panel discussion, and two concurrent breakout discussions, each with three mini workshops to choose from. This year we are excited to welcome Dr. Cynthia Baur, Ph.D., Endowed Chair and Director of the Horowitz Center for Health Literacy at the University of Maryland’s School of Public Health, as our Keynote Speaker. The event will be in-person only and there are limited seats available to non-OHSU employees. Box lunch is included.

Friday, October 23, 2026

Program: 9:30 AM - 4:30 PM

OHSU Auditorium

3286 SW Research Drive
Portland, OR 97239

Get notified when registration opens: HERE

Submit a Poster Proposal: Click here to submit a proposal.

This event is fully in-person. There will be no virtual links for attendance.

Speakers & Topics

Welcome - OHSU Health Literacy Symposium

Shereef Elnahal, M.D., MBA
OHSU President

Panel Discussion (Topic): Health Literacy from the Patient and Caregiver Perspectives

Moderator: Keren McCord, LCSW, OHSU Knight Cancer Patient and Family Service Department Manager Panelists: Members of the Knight Alliance for Patient-Centered Discovery

Does that make sense?

Cliff Coleman, M.D., MPH
Professor of Family Medicine
Doris & Mark Storms Chair in Compassionate Communication, OHSU Center for Ethics in Health Care
Clinical Thread Director for Professionalism, Ethics, and Communication, OHSU School of Medicine
Chair, Institutional Health Literacy Workgroup

Topic: Summary and Next Steps

Banning Hendriks, MBA
Vice President, OHSU Patient Experience and Relations

Topic: TBD

Cynthia Baur, Ph.D.
Endowed Chair and Director, Horowitz Center for Health Literacy
School of Public Health, University of Maryland

Concurrent Workshop Sessions A

Topic: Culture and Clear Communication
Keren McCord, LCSW, OHSU Knight Cancer Patient and Family Service Department Manager
Pearl Rose, Indigenous Community Oncology Patient Navigator, OHSU Knight Cancer
Pauline Vargas-Solis, Hispanic and Latino Patient Navigator, OHSU Knight Cancer

Topic: Accessible Language Research Summaries
Larissa Yoshino, MPH, Data and Communication Manager
University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities
Brandi Fleck, B.S., Assistant IRB Manager, OHSU

Topic: Jargon in Patient Communication
Cliff Coleman, M.D., MPH
Doris & Mark Storms Chair in Compassionate Communication, OHSU Center for Ethics in Health Care
Clinical Thread Director for Professionalism, Ethics and Communication, OHSU School of Medicine
Chair, Institutional Health Literacy Workgroup

Concurrent Workshop Sessions B

Topic: TBD
Cynthia Baur, Ph.D.
Endowed Chair and Director, Horowitz Center for Health Literacy
School of Public Health, University of Maryland

Topic: Language Access Services and Health Literacy
Mariana Phipps, Healthcare Communications
Cheryl Rose, Healthcare Communications
Armando Jimenez, Director of Language Services

Topic: AI Health Literacy
Kristin Whitman, M.A.C.I., M.L.I.S., OHSU Library
David Carson, M.M., M.L.I.S., OHSU Library 

Previous Events

The inaugural OHSU Health Literacy Symposium was held on Thursday, October 23 and showcased clear communication strategies and campus projects to more effectively engage with patients, research participants, and community members across OHSU’s many programs. OHSU faculty, staff, learners and administrators were inspired by innovative approaches to help OHSU reach the ambitious goal of becoming a model health literate organization. The symposium aimed to help attendees:

  • Describe organizational health literacy and describe the elements of a health literate organization.
  • Identify current communication barriers that affect health-related outcomes.
  • Identify clear communication strategies to improve equitable access to understandable information in clinical, educational, and research settings.

The event featured eight academic research and project posters, two plenary sessions, and six mini workshops. More than 130 people attended the symposium, with attendees from OHSU, local and state health care organizations, and out-of-state guests. 

View the 2025 symposium program here. 

View the Symposium Opening and Keynote recording here.

View Evaluating the Health Literacy Environment and Care recording here.

View How Do We Know? Modeling, Training, and Evaluating Teach back for Learners in Health Settings recording here.

The inaugural OHSU Health Literacy Symposium was held on Thursday, October 17 and showcased clear communication strategies and campus projects to more effectively engage with patients, research participants, and community members across OHSU’s many programs. OHSU faculty, staff, learners and administrators were inspired by innovative approaches to help OHSU reach the ambitious goal of becoming a model health literate organization. The symposium aimed to help attendees:

  • Describe organizational health literacy and describe the elements of a health literate organization.
  • Identify current communication barriers that affect health-related outcomes.
  • Identify clear communication strategies to improve equitable access to understandable information in clinical, educational, and research settings.

The event featured eight academic research and project posters, and nine projects across all mission areas in the breakout sessions. More than 130 people attended the symposium, including members who joined virtually from Klamath Falls, Scappoose, Bend, and Colorado. 

View the 2024 symposium program here. 

View the OHSU Now post recapping the event here.