Keynote Speakers
Sarah Baird
Sarah Baird is a Professor of Global Health and Economics in the Department of Global Health at George Washington University. Prof. Baird is a development economist whose research focuses on the microeconomics of health and education in low- and middle-income countries with an emphasis on gender and youth. She served as co-chair of the second Lancet Commission on adolescent health and wellbeing. She also serves as the quantitative lead for the Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) study, the largest global study on adolescence and is on the research team for the Women’s Health and Wellbeing Exemplars In Global Health study. Prof. Baird’s work has been published in leading academic journals including the Quarterly Journal of Economics and The Lancet, and has been featured in media outlets such as The New York Times and The Economist. Baird’s current work investigates different policy approaches to improve outcomes for adolescents ranging from cash transfers, to Group Interpersonal Psychotherapy, to social norms change. She received her PhD from the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at UC Berkeley in 2007.
Farnaz Sabet
Dr Farnaz Sabet is an academic General Practitioner with global health expertise. She is Vice President (MENA) of the International Association for Adolescent Health and is a Global Health Fellow at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. She has worked extensively in global health and policy including for the United National High Commission on Refugees, the International Rescue Committee and Prime Minister and Cabinet in Australia. Farnaz received her medical degree from Monash University, a Masters in Global Health Science from Oxford University and a PhD from The University of Melbourne which was awarded the Chanceller’s Prize. Her PhD was on adolescent maternal and newborn health with a focus on participatory women’s groups in India and their effectiveness for pregnant adolescents. Her work has helped bring global attention to the needs of pregnant girls.
Youth Keynote Speakers
Janice Rodrigues
Janice (she/her) is Australia’s 2026 Youth Representative to the United Nations. She is a youth and community engagement practitioner, organiser, and racial and gender justice advocate from New South Wales. Drawing on her lived experience as a young woman from South West Sydney, she brings a deep understanding of how place, culture, and access shape opportunity, and is committed to centring the voices of those most often excluded from power and policy conversations.
Janice currently works as a Youth & Community Engagement Officer at Multicultural NSW, where she facilitates and manages the Multicultural Youth Network (MYN), leading youth engagement initiatives and supporting culturally responsive programs that strengthen leadership and participation among young people from multicultural communities. Prior to this, she spent three years as a Youth Program Coordinator at the Western Sydney Migrant Resource Centre, supporting newly arrived refugee and migrant young people through community-led and culturally responsive programs.
Janice brings governance experience as an Advisory Board Member for Multicultural NSW and Management Committee Member at CuriousWorks, a Western Sydney-based arts organisation. An experienced public speaker and media contributor, Janice has appeared on ABC and holds a Bachelor of Politics and International Relations from the University of Sydney.
As Youth Representative, she is committed to ensuring young people are treated as leaders and collaborators, and that youth perspectives meaningfully shape domestic policy and Australia’s global engagement.
2024 Youth Health Conference
2024 Youth Health Conference theme: Connecting to Our Future
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