Laura Putnam, MA, author of Workplace Wellness That Works, is a global speaker, workshop facilitator and strategic advisor. She has worked with hundreds of organizations, across a wide range of industries, around the world and has trained over 50,000 managers and leaders. Her specialty has been empowering managers to become “Multipliers of Wellbeing,” driving “middle-out” movements of wellbeing across the organization.
Laura recently transitioned from CEO and founder of Motion Infusion, a San Francisco-based wellbeing provider, to now Chief Learning Officer and co-founder of Upli, a company that is “flipping the script” on wellness from a strategy that focuses only on individual behavior change to one that invests in cultures and leadership to foster & nurture wellbeing for all.
Laura’s dynamic approach helps leaders and employees re-imagine and re-invigorate the workplace. Her work has been covered by MSNBC, FOX News, The New York Times, US News & World Report, Entrepreneur, Business Insider, Globe & Mail, NPR, and many others. She is a former teacher, dancer, gymnast and now a movement-builder in the world of health and wellness.
Laura was nominated by the American Heart Association as a 2025 "Woman of Impact" nominee. raising awareness about women’s heart health. She also served as chair of the American Heart Association's Greater Bay Area 2020 Task Force and is the recipient of the American Heart Association's "2020 Impact" award as well as the National Wellness Institute’s “Circle of Leadership” award. She has served on advisory boards, including the Healthstat Strategic Advisory Council, as well as the Google Vitality Lab. A graduate of Brown University School of Education and Stanford University in International Relations, she lives in San Francisco with her fiancé, unruly cat and adorable puppy.
Keynote: Workplace Wellness That Works: Why Wellbeing is the Secret Ingredient to a Thriving Culture
Valeria (Val) Tivnan is the Vice-President of Population Health Strategy and Well-being at IMA Financial Corp. In this role she supports IMA clients in their journey to building a culture of health in the workplace while helping leaders transform employees into knowledgeable healthcare consumers. Val’s passion is to advise leaders on tactics to bring lifestyle medicine into workplaces with a goal of improving population health and decreasing healthcare costs. She is also passionate about mindfulness training!
Val has 25+ years of experience in the wellness, well-being and lifestyle medicine fields. She is the Chair of the lifestyle medicine in the workplace group from ACLM and is involved in other organizations such as HERO (Health Enhancement Research Organization) where she has contributed to several committees and published papers at prestigious journals such as the Am. J. Health Promotion. Val is also on the board of a lifestyle medicine non-profit organization – PAVING the Path to Wellness and is the Chair of the Worksite Wellness Council of MA. In addition, she is part of Merrimack College’s Research Board of Advisors.
Val has a master’s in education from Boston University and an MPH from UCLA. She is an Adjunct Professor at Merrimack College and has won EBA’s prestigious ‘Wellness Director of the Year’ award in 2017.
Fireside Chat - Lifestyle Medicine & The Future of Workplace Wellness
Amy is passionate about the power of partnerships to co-create solutions that accelerate innovation and drive health impact at scale. The Strategic Health Solutions team brings industry insight and intelligence into our product roadmaps, ensuring that we are identifying the highest and best use of Google’s technology and tools to improve the health for billions around the world. SHS builds on the strong foundation created by the Fitbit Health Solutions team Amy built from the ground up, which partnered with the healthcare ecosystem to improve care and impact outcomes.
Prior to Fitbit, Amy held strategic roles at CNET Networks focused on Strategic Partnerships and Audience & Content Development. Amy has a bachelor’s degree from Merrimack College in N. Andover, MA and a Professional Certificate in Integrated Marketing Communications from UC Berkeley.
Session: Keynote - The Future of Wearables in Healthcare Management
Dr. Leena Bharath is an Associate Professor in the School of Nursing and Health Sciences at Merrimack College, where she also serves as the Pasini Professor of Health Sciences. Her research centers on the intricate relationship between mitochondrial function and immune cell metabolism, particularly in the context of aging and metabolic diseases such as obesity and diabetes. She leads the MitoCure Lab, which focuses on “inflammaging”—the chronic inflammation associated with aging—and aims to develop targeted therapies to mitigate its effects.
Dr. Melissa St. Hilaire is an Assistant Professor of Data Science at Merrimack College and a part-time Lecturer on Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She earned her B.S. in Mathematical Sciences from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, an M.S. in Bioinformatics from Northeastern University, and a Ph.D. in Cognitive and Neural Systems from Boston University. She completed her postdoctoral training in Circadian Physiology at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. St. Hilaire brings over 20 years of experience at the intersection of computational and experimental research. She is the Principal Investigator of the BRIGHT Lab (Biological Rhythms and Light Lab), where her team investigates the impacts of insufficient sleep and circadian rhythm disruptions on health, performance, and safety. She has led multiple federally funded research projects supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and NASA.
Her work focuses on developing circadian-informed interventions to improve outcomes in real-world settings. Two major areas of research include:
Dr. St. Hilaire’s research integrates techniques from data science, mathematical modeling, and physiology to study how biological rhythms interact with behavioral and environmental factors. She has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed publications in leading journals such as Sleep and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Her work continues to advance the science of sleep and circadian health and inform practical strategies for improving well-being in complex, high-demand environments.
Dr. Warren Bodine is a board-certified Osteopathic Primary Care Sports Medicine Physician. He completed his medical degree from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-School of Osteopathic Medicine (UMDNJ) in Stratford, NJ. He trained as a Family Medicine resident at UMDNJ. He also completed a Sports Medicine Fellowship at Christiana Care Health System in Wilmington, DE. His clinical interests include Family Medicine, Sports Medicine, and Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine.
Dr. Bodine is a specialty content editor for industry-leading evidence-based medical platform, DynaMed. Outside work, he enjoys spending time with his family and on the sidelines of his children’s sporting events
He is currently a clinical professor and instructor at several medical schools, including the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine, and Harvard University School of Medicine. Dr. Bodine has received numerous teaching awards and has been an invited speaker on multiple Primary Care and Sports Medicine topics regionally and nationally. He currently serves as Medical Director for Merrimack College Athletics and Team Physician for the Boston Red Sox.
Debra Wein, MS, RDN, CWWPC is the CEO and Founder of Wellness Workdays (2004) and has over 25 years of experience working in the health and wellness industry. Clients include New Balance, Turner Construction, City of Portland, ME, Skanska, Maine Bankers Association, McCarthy Builders, Rockland Trust, and Brown University.
Debra holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from Cornell and Columbia Universities and is a nationally recognized expert on employee health and wellness. Focused on education in many formats, Debra has lectured for the US Coast Guard, US Navy Seals, USA Olympic coaches, MIT and Harvard Business School. Debra has spoken about worksite wellness on many major networks and cable stations in NY and Boston, and has written articles for Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Muscle & Fitness, and many others.
Debra is a member of the President’s Council of Cornell Women (PCCW), a group of highly accomplished women including Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Janet Reno, Senator Gabriella Giffords, Mae Jemison, and many others; a member of the Cornell University College of Human Ecology Dean’s Advisory Council; and serves on the UMass Amherst School of Public Health and Health Sciences Dean’s Advisory Board. Debra has achieved Master Instructor status through the Chapman Institute and Faculty Status through Wellness Council of America. Debra is also the Program Director of the Wellness Workdays Dietetic Internship, one of the largest programs in the country training nutrition students to become Registered Dietitians, including those at the Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls, Washington Football Team, Minnesota Twins, University of Alabama, Duke University, and Notre Dame.
With a passion for assisting clients in all things benefits and Health & Welfare, Greg is a key player on Sentinel’s leadership team. Having called Sentinel home for 13+ years, he is driven by a desire to help people day in and day out.
Greg brings a unique view of benefits to the table, having curated a diverse background in Health & Welfare, Insurance Consulting, and Retirement. While many companies are stuck in the past with outdated group insurance strategy, he appreciates Sentinel’s ability to innovate by bringing everything under one roof.
Greg understands insurance and benefit plans can be incredibly confusing for people. By helping firms create strong education game plans, his expertise enhances the value of their offerings and empowers employees to feel confident in what is offered to them.
Dr. SantaBarbara earned his PhD in Kinesiology from Columbia University, where he focused on using exercise to prevent and manage chronic disease. He continued this work as a postdoctoral fellow at in the Department of Psychiatry at UCLA, expanding his research to include the impact of workplace wellness programs on employee health, absenteeism, presenteeism, and employer healthcare costs. Although these programs offered significant benefits and high engagement among participants, overall enrollment remained low, limiting their broader impact. Recognizing their potential value for both employees and employers, Dr. SantaBarbara conducted a study to identify preferred content and structural features of workplace wellness programs that could boost enthusiasm and long-term participation. Dr. SantaBarbara has published several papers in this area as both the primary investigator, and senior author helping students pursue their interests in this important and meaningful field.
Dr. Laura Kurdziel is a neuroscientist and sleep researcher dedicated to uncovering how quality rest fuels cognitive performance, emotional resilience, and overall health. She holds a Ph.D. in Neuroscience & Behavior from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and currently serves as Program Director of Neuroscience and Associate Professor of Psychology at Merrimack College. Dr. Kurdziel’s award-winning research explores how sleep influences memory, mood regulation, and brain function across the lifespan. In this talk, she will unpack the science of sleep and highlight how healthy sleep habits can enhance workplace productivity, mental clarity, and long-term wellness. Attendees will gain practical, evidence-based strategies for optimizing sleep to perform better, feel better, and live healthier—on and off the job.
Dr. Michael Corcoran is an Associate Professor of Nutrition and Public Health at Merrimack College, specializing in exercise and nutrition strategies for athletes and older adults. His research focuses on developing tailored interventions to enhance physical function and health outcomes in these populations, with particular expertise in geriatric exercise programming and sports nutrition.
Dr. Corcoran earned his Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Nutrition from Tufts University and a B.S. in Biology from Saint Bonaventure University. His work has been published in journals such as ACSM’s Health & Fitness Journal, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, and the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. At Merrimack, Dr. Corcoran contributes to the M.S. in Nutrition and Human Performance program and serves as Chair of the Health Science & Nutrition Department. He is also involved in interdisciplinary research initiatives like the SCAN Lab, which explores topics such as athlete mental health and performance.
Lucas Holden is a Research Associate at WHOOP, where he designs and executes health-focused research studies within WHOOP Labs. He earned his Master’s in Exercise and Sport Science from Merrimack College in 2021. With hands-on research experience across military, clinical, and consumer settings, Lucas is passionate about translating physiological insights into real-world applications. He has co-authored several peer-reviewed publications and presented his work at national conferences, including the ACSM. Lucas currently specializes in physiological monitoring, wearable technology validation, and data-driven protocol development for both centralized and decentralized health research.
Dr. Don Roosan, PharmD, PhD, is a visionary scientist-entrepreneur who unites quantum computing, artificial intelligence, and biomedical informatics to revolutionize the way medicines are discovered and delivered. After earning his PharmD from Purdue University and a PhD in Biomedical Informatics from the University of Utah, he has spearheaded landmark initiatives in dementia care, medication adherence, drug-safety surveillance, and genomics—often blending AI, gamification, and quantum techniques to achieve results once thought unattainable. By deploying variational quantum eigensolvers alongside large-language-model property predictors, Dr. Roosan’s teams can shrink months of molecular-design work into minutes, rapidly generating novel scaffolds for oncology, neurodegeneration, and antimicrobial resistance while flagging toxic liabilities before they reach the bench. Parallel investigations in quantum key distribution, ultralow-latency quantum communication, and post-quantum blockchain provide the cryptographic foundation for next-generation clinical-trial and health-data networks. Dr. Roosan’s breakthroughs have been patented, featured across the Nature Portfolio journals, and highlighted by leading news outlets, while his scholarship includes numerous peer-reviewed book chapters and the widely acclaimed trade book humAIn: How Humans and AI Will Co-Create the Future of Humanity. An accomplished founder, he has launched multiple AI-driven healthcare start-ups, translating laboratory insight into tangible societal benefit. Guided by the conviction that “Artificial Quantum Intelligence” can eliminate disease and extend healthy human life.
Get up and move with Meghan Kinsey, the founder, owner and health coach behind Motivate.® Movement, during the 11 a.m. scheduled break! She will by hosting an optional light movement activity for all interested participants.
Meghan Kinsey is the founder, owner, and health coach behind Motivate.® Movement, with studios in Amesbury and Rowley, MA, North Hampton, NH, and a thriving global community on Zoom.
Now in her 50s, Meghan draws on a colorful career—classroom teacher, medical sales rep, community organizer, Newburyport City Councilor, childbirth educator, barre instructor, and studio owner—in her role as Joy Coach.
Upon waking each morning, her hair might be wild, her coffee cup never far, but she shows up daily with optimism and a passion for helping others use research-backed tools to feel their best. When she’s not parenting three grown sons or reminding her husband that marrying her 25 years ago was his best decision (wink), she’s leading a powerhouse team of instructors and cheering on every client who walks through the studio doors or joins her on her international wellness retreats.
A curious experimenter, Meghan is always testing habits and hacks for a more vibrant, grateful life—and sharing them with others. She’s also a columnist and sought-after speaker known for her cheeky, irreverent delivery, and co-host of the shamelessly funny health podcast Did You Poop Today? with her two sisters.
These industry leaders, researchers, and innovators will share real-world strategies and groundbreaking insights to help you build a healthy, engaged workforce.
For additional speaker updates, sponsorship opportunities, or media inquiries, contact us at [email protected].
As a sponsor, your company will have the unique opportunity to:
This conference will equip you with the latest research, expert insights, and networking opportunities to transform your organization’s wellness strategy.
