TUFH2026
Abstract Submission
TUFH2026
IDD/Autism/Integrated Behavioral Health Summit
Transforming Care. Empowering Lives. Inspiring Change.
The Woods System of Care, a leading network of healthcare organizations in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, USA, dedicated to providing lifelong care and support for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), autism, and behavioral health challenges, has joined forces with The Network: Towards Unity for Health (TUFH)—an official non-state actor of the WHO—and the Mollie Woods Hare Global Center of Excellence. Together, they are proud to present the IDD, Autism, and Integrated Behavioral Health Summit 2026.
This Summit is a global gathering aimed at advancing innovative, integrated care and improving outcomes for neurodivergent individuals worldwide. It will bring together thought leaders, healthcare professionals, policymakers, families, and advocates to share knowledge, explore bold, forward-thinking approaches, and collaborate on strategies that transform the landscape of care for individuals with IDD, autism, and behavioral health challenges.
✅ What You’ll Gain at the Summit:
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Global insights from leading experts in IDD, autism, and behavioral health.
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Practical strategies to improve outcomes and enhance the quality of life for neurodivergent individuals.
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Connections with a worldwide network of innovators, caregivers, policymakers, and thought leaders.
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Opportunities to influence policy and advance inclusive, lifelong care.
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Exposure to innovative, family-first care models that put the individual at the center.
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Collaborative knowledge-sharing to exchange solutions, best practices, and new ideas.
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Inspiration and tools to drive meaningful change locally, nationally, and globally.
Be inspired. Be the change. Transform healthcare for neurodivergent individuals globally.
Date and Time
Thursday, August 6, 2026
- 08:00 AM -09:00 AM Keynote Address TUFH 2026
- 09:00 AM -09:30 AM Wellness Break
- 09:30 AM – 10:00 AM Keynote Address by Mark Williams, BSN, RN-BC, Board Chair, Woods System of Care
- 10:00 AM – 10:30 AM Keynote Address by Frances Hughes, RN, BA, MA, DNurs, CNZM – Registered Nurse; Disability and Mental Health Clinical Advisor; Chair, Mental Health Assurance Group, Ministry of Health New Zealand
- 10:30 AM – 11:30 AM ECHO Session
- 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM Lunch
- 12:30 PM – 01:30 PM Panel Discussion on Early Intervention and Integrated Care: Improving
Outcomes for Individuals with IDD, Autism, and Behavioral Health Needs - 01:30 PM – 02:30 PM Keynote Address TUFH 2026
- 02:30 PM – 03:00 PM Wellness Break
- 03:00 PM – 05:00 PM Panel & Round Top Coping with Mental Health through Global Disasters
- 05:00 PM – 07:00 PM Cultural Dinner
Register and Submit
Register
To attend the Summit, please register for the TUFH 2026 Conference.
Submit
We invite abstracts for Oral Presentations on IDD, Autism and Integrated Behavioral Health.
DEADLINE – March 31, 2026
Program
Keynote Address
Mark T. Williams, BSN, RN-BC, Woods System of Care Board Chair
Mark T. Williams has more than 40 years of psychiatric nursing experience in various roles and settings. He serves as Board Chair of Wood’s System of Care and Vice Chair of the RL Medical Center at Woods. Mark has been a staunch anti-stigma crusader and advocate for mental health parity since he began his career in nursing as an LPN within the State of New Jersey Psychiatric system.. Mark was featured in a Gannett News Documentary: Ending the Stigma, Mental Health in the Black Community. He is the President of NAMI NJ, serving on NAMI New Jersey’s AACT-NOW advisory Board, an African-American community outreach initiative. Additionally, Mark is certified in Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing by the American Nurses Credentialing Center. He is also certified as a Juvenile Sex Offender Training and Consultation Specialist. He is an Honored Fellow of the Minority Nurse Leadership Institute, Rutgers School of Nursing and has trained at the Multicultural Leadership Academy sponsored by the Mental Health Association in New Jersey.
Transforming Care. Empowering Lives. Inspiring Change. “BAYANIHAN”
Listen with the intent to understand
Share with generosity of spirit
Collaborate for the common good
Envision a world where integrated, lifelong care is a universal standard
Keynote Address
Benjamin Pozez, Woods Foundations Board Chair
Benjamin Pozez currently Chairs the Woods Foundations and has served on the board of the Woods System of Care for over a decade. He focuses on institutional strategy, capital planning, campus re-envisioning, and aligning philanthropic investment to support long term mission driven growth across the system.
Professionally, Ben is Chief Financial Officer of Lawrence Lake Interiors, a nationally recognized interior design firm working across the United States. An entrepreneur at heart, his work spans finance, real estate development and investment. He focuses on structuring projects, deploying capital, and helping bring large-scale residential and hospitality environments from concept to completion. He is also an active investor and advisor across ventures in technology, hospitality, and real estate.
Ben is deeply engaged with Jewish community leadership, including with the Jewish Federations of North America National Young Leadership Cabinet. He lives in Tucson, Arizona with his wife and their two sons, where they are committed to strengthening and supporting the local community.
Building Institutions That Outlast Us
Navigating Generational Change in IDD and Integrated Health
This talk explores how mission driven organizations can build institutions capable of serving communities not only today, but across generations.
For Ben Pozez, this conversation sits at the intersection of governance, philanthropy, and family. His Uncle was a client and resident of Woods for more than 60 years. Today Pozez serves as Chair of the Woods Foundations and as a third-generation member of the Woods System of Care Board. His family’s experience has shaped a simple conviction:
Institutions that serve people across a lifetime, must themselves be built to endure across generations.
Across much of the IDD and health and human services universe, funding systems are designed to sustain existing structures and services rather than invest in the innovation and evolution institutions require over time.
This address examines how philanthropy and foundations can change that equation. When structured intentionally, foundations can provide the strategic capital that operating budgets rarely have. When used strategically, philanthropy becomes more than charitable support; it becomes a structural tool for navigating change, allowing institutions to remain steady in purpose while adapting to new realities.
The invitation to leaders across government, nonprofit, and health systems is simple: build organizations strong enough to endure change and bold enough to keep evolving across generations.
Keynote Address
Frances Hughes, RN, BA, MA, DNurs, FNZCMHN, FAAN, JJP, CNZM
Dr Hughes is a practicing Registered Nurse with over 35 years’ nursing and in international health experience. She is a recognised leader in her field and has a BA, MA and Doctorate in Nursing.
Dr Hughes has held executive management and nursing positions on a regional and global level and was formerly clinical adviser in disability for New Zealand Ministry of disability , Group General Manager for clinical and Care for Oceania Health Care (LTD), Deputy Director of Mental Health, Professor of Nursing and Mental Health (UOA), Chief Nurse for New Zealand, Chief Nursing and Midwifery officer for Queensland and the Chief Executive of the International Council of Nurses (Geneva). She worked for the World Health Organisation with 16 countries throughout the Pacific. Dr Hughes and her husband also owned and operated businesses in the Mana region, including a mental health residential facility based in Kapiti. She has worked in area of high complexity Intellectual disability and Mental health for many years, as both practitioner , policy adviser at both service and government level.
Read Full Bio
Dr Hughes is highly decorated and recognised for her national and international leadership and achievements, she was made an Officer and Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2006 and 2019 for services to nursing, mental health and health. Her specialty areas are mental health, aged care, health care systems, health workforce, psychosocial emergency response post/disaster management and public policy. She was the first nurse to be awarded the Harkness Fellowship in Health Care Policy (US equivalent of Rhode Scholar) from the Commonwealth Fund in New York, a 2013 Fulbright Senior Scholarship followed by a Distinguished Alumni Service Award from Massey University in New Zealand in 2013. In 2016 she received the Chancellors Award for Excellence and the Faculty Alumni award from the University of Technology Sydney. She has served and chaired boards both in New Zealand, Rwanda, Switzerland, Queensland, and USA.
Dr Hughes has consulted for many global organisations within USA, Europe, New Zealand, Australia, and Pacific. She is extremely well connected and networked across the globe and has been actively engaged in UN agency meetings for over two decades through being both government and NGO representative. She has established two mental health charities in Australia and New Zealand and board member on three NGOs in Rwanda, Switzerland, and Queensland. All focussing on vulnerable populations. Frances served as the Commandant Colonel – Lt Col for the Royal New Zealand Nursing Corp for seven years, for the New Zealand Army.
From 1998 – 2004 Frances held the position as Chief Nurse for New Zealand, for 8 years and during this time played a major leadership role in health care policy and nursing. Frances was instrumental in the development of government policy around psychosocial emergency response, nurse prescribing, primary health care, health line and rural schemes, mental health, and nurse practitioners. In 2004 Frances was appointed as the first Professor of Nursing at Auckland University, Chair of Mental Health Nursing and established the centre for mental health policy, research, and service development.
From 2005 through to 2011 Frances worked part time for World Health Organisation (WHO) as the Facilitator for the Pacific Island Mental Health Network (PIMHNet). During this time, she worked with 16 Pacific Island governments, supporting them to develop policy and plans to improve mental health. During this time, she also held part time positions in NZ Ministry of Health – as Principal Consultant and Deputy Director of Mental Health for NZ.
From 2012 – 2016 Frances was appointed as the Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer for Queensland Health. During this time, she was successful in advancing role of nursing and maternity services, through her strong policy and research approach which resulted in the 2015 incoming government allocating 500million to nursing and midwifery. She was seconded in this time to set up Mental Health commission in Queensland and new patient safety data department.
Frances is an established scholar and has extensive publication record, publishing her first book in 2007 “Have Your Say – How to Influence Public Policy”. Her scholarship and research interests are Mental Health, Health Policy and Nursing.
In 2018 she led a global team to be the winner of MIT Global Solve Challenge in frontline health care “Refugee Health Workforce, deploying blockchain tech to recertify refugee healthcare workers”.
In 2017 and 2020, Dr Hughes was a finalist in Westpac Women of Influence – Global category. Also, in 2020 she was selected to be one of the Women in Global Health’s 100+ Outstanding Nurses and Midwives.
Dr Hughes was appointed chair of the Clinical and Nursing Leadership Group (NLG) for NZ Aged Care Association in January 2020, and with NLG led the Aged care COVID 19 response which included appointed to independent panel to review the COVID 19 clusters
In 2022 Frances was awarded Risk Professional of the Year from RISKnz for her work with managing COVID-19 over the previous years.
In 2024 she was appointed to the Water Services Authority (Taumata Arowai and is chair of FRAC), the Health Research Council and Chair of the Mental Health Assurance Group for Ministry of Health and Minister of Mental Health. In 2025 she was appointed to the newly formed Health New Zealand board. In 2024 she completed law studies to become a Judicial Justice of Peace and volunteers her services to Taupō and Rotorua District Courts.
Dr Hughes lives in Taupō with Husband and has two adult children who live in Australia and New Zealand and welcomed her first grandson in February 2022.
Project ECHO
Project ECHO®
Epilepsy & Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) is a globally recognized, case-based learning model that expands healthcare expertise and strengthens workforce capacity through guided practice. This one-hour interactive session, supported by the American Academy of Developmental Medicine & Dentistry (AADMD) and the Philippine League Against Epilepsy (PLAE), will demonstrate the Project ECHO approach using a real-world case focused on epilepsy care in individuals with IDD. Through a hybrid, multidisciplinary discussion, participants will explore culturally responsive, community-engaged strategies to improve diagnosis, treatment, and long-term support. One hour of Category 1 CME credit will be provided. This session also marks the launch of the Philippines Project ECHO hub, fostering sustained collaboration beyond the conference.
Panel Discussion
Early Intervention and Integrated Care: Improving Outcomes for Individuals with IDD, Autism, and Behavioral Health Needs
Join the Summit for a dynamic panel discussion on advancing awareness, early detection, and integrated care for IDD, autism, and behavioral health. Leading experts from around the world will share innovative strategies, practical tools, and best practices to ensure timely support for neurodivergent individuals. This session highlights cutting-edge approaches, cross-system collaboration, and family-centered solutions designed to transform care and improve outcomes globally.
This inspiring session will be guided by Tine Hansen-Turton, MGA, JD, FCPP, FAAN, President & CEO of the Woods System of Care, a renowned leader in healthcare innovation.
Public Consent
If you have an accepted abstract, you acknowledge and agree that The Network: TUFH, UP Manila, the organizing committee of this conference, and sponsors of this conference may edit and publish in any of their digital or printed communications or publications, including but not limited to, websites, social media outlets, newsletters, annual reports, and promotional materials; the information provided including but not limited to the full abstract, your name, co-author information, pictures, and institutions.
Suggested Conference on the Move
Wednesday August 5, 2026
Quezon City Kabahagi Center For Children With Disabilities
The Quezon City Kabahagi Center for Children with Disabilities promotes the rights of Children with Disabilities who are aged 17 years and below and residing in Quezon City with their families, to achieve their holistic and inclusive development through participation in projects that are responsive to their needs in the areas of education, health, livelihood, and social empowerment. Their mission is to help improve the quality of life of Children with Disabilities through the creation of equal access to health, education, livelihood, and social opportunities.
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