Social Change Futurist™
One who envisions, analyzes, and actively shapes future societal transformations, centering equity, innovation, and policies that foster long-term, inclusive change. Today, that means raising AI that remembers our humanity and builds toward sovereignty.
Keynotes · Facilitation · Panels · Moderation · Advisory
Book me to speak Download the speaker kitI give your audience a decision standard they can use on Monday, not a talk about AI.
Signature talks
The New DEI: From Diversity to Data Sovereignty
Equity in the age of AI, beyond representation to data rights, consent, and power. Audiences gain a clear framework for designing technology that centers the most vulnerable populations.
Ideal for: Health tech summits, DEI strategy teams, innovation and ethics conferences, digital policy forums
Designing for Trust: Healing What Innovation Alone Can’t
In systems marked by historic harm, trust is strategy. Participants walk away with actionable tools for building systems that prove themselves worthy of belief and belonging.
Ideal for: Healthcare leaders, patient experience teams, medical educators, health equity forums
SEEDS of Change: Innovation That Grows What Matters
An introduction to SEEDS of Innovation™ for accelerating product-system fit through patient-centered co-design. Audiences leave with a practical roadmap to build healthcare solutions that work, scale, and last.
Ideal for: Startup accelerators, venture studios, product teams, innovation hubs, health system design labs
Remembering How to Care: AI, Agency & the End of Extraction
A keynote that challenges extractive models of innovation by tracing how systems exploit what they fail to value. Participants gain insight into how AI can be reclaimed as a tool for restoration, equity, and patient-led transformation.
Ideal for: AI and ethics summits, social impact convenings, digital equity roundtables, policy and innovation institutes
Keynote
Story-driven talks that fuse innovation, equity, and personal truth.
Facilitation
Sessions that hold complexity and guide teams toward breakthrough.
Panel speaking
Systems-level fluency and the courage to name what others hold back.
Moderation
Thoughtful, dynamic moderation that draws out every voice.
Speaking topics: Health equity · Patient-centered innovation · AI in healthcare · Data sovereignty · Systemic trust and mistrust · Social determinants of health · Ethical health tech design · Lived experience as evidence · Healthcare innovation · Radical listening in innovation
Track record
Where I have spoken
Keynotes, panels, and moderation across health systems, universities, and startup communities.
Multiplicities: An Artistic Exploration of Racial Disparities in Cancer Outcomes
Keynote · MIT Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Nucarta Gallery Exhibit
Traps, Trust and Transformative Tools: A Path to Health Equity in the Age of AI
Featured speaker · Black Men’s Health Equity Conference, Institute for the Advancement of Minority Health
Ethics, Equity and Data Sovereignty Considerations for AI Readiness in Health Care Innovation: A Global Perspective
Panel · Global AI Summit on Health Care, Bentley University
AI Forward: Pursuing the Safe, Responsible and Meaningful Integration of Generative AI in Healthcare
Panel · LSX World Congress USA
Leveraging Data at the Edge: Establishing Trust and Engagement from Mission-Driven Challenges
Panel · Digital Health Institute for Transformation (DHIT) Annual Summit
Innovations in Life Sciences: From Lab to Market
Panel · Startup Boston Week 2025
From HeLa to Health Equity: A Tribute to Diverse Contributions
Moderator · LabCentral Black History Month
NeighborHealth Managers Retreat
Designed and facilitated
Upcoming · where to find me
Human-Centric AI: Shaping the Future of Equitable Healthcare
Massachusetts Health Council summit at the MIT Media Lab · designed and facilitated by Phicil-itate Change
What people say
“She possesses a rare ability to deconstruct the complexity of health and rebuild it as a universal, human narrative that resonates from the lab bench to the boardroom… Sheila’s work is an essential catalyst for any mission-driven culture.”
Ross Marshall · MassBio
“The most impactful aspect of the retreat facilitation was the ability to achieve full, guided engagement from every board member in a structured and meaningful way… This approach not only maximized participation but also helped build a sense of unity and shared vision among the members.”
C2C · board retreat feedback
“Before these meetings, I was struggling with what is the Center and its role in the department. I decided to participate in these meetings because Sheila’s facilitation helped me feel part of the process. By the end of the process we were at a great directed starting point.”
Boston Medical Center · strategic planning feedback
The speaker kit
Talks, testimonials, and booking details in one file.
Download it to share with your team, or browse it right here.
Also offered under the mark: Social Change Futurist™ strategic advisory and business consulting for organizations carrying foresight into implementation.
Booking
Let’s talk about your event.
Every message lands with my team and gets a real answer.
Include these four things and I can come back with a real answer instead of a scheduling email:
- Your topic, or the question you want the room to leave with
- Who is in the audience, and roughly how many
- Your date, or the window you are working within
- Format: keynote, facilitation, panel, or moderation
Journalists: bios, headshots, and the press kit are on the press page.