Kenisha Arora

Kenisha Arora is a physician-in-training, global health advocate, and education equity leader whose work focuses on public health, education policy, and youth empowerment. Arora has contributed to advancing education and health equity for children and youth at local, national, and international levels. She holds a master's degree in global health and economics from Johns Hopkins University and is pursuing her MD at Toronto Metropolitan University School of Medicine, integrating expertise in global health, economics, and governance.

Arora began her leadership journey at age 16 as a student school board trustee in the Greater Toronto Area, where she led a policy initiative to provide free menstrual hygiene products in school washrooms, influencing province-wide change. Internationally, she was selected from more than 10,000 candidates to serve as the representative of youth on the United Nations High-Level Committee for Education, collaborating with leaders from Sierra Leone, France, UNESCO, UNICEF, and the World Bank. In this capacity, Arora gathered input from 450,000 young people across 120 countries and led a UNESCO coalition of more than 100 youth leaders to set priorities for transforming education, culminating in a Declaration on Transforming Education launched at the United Nations General Assembly.

Arora's advocacy has contributed to the adoption of two global Sustainable Development Goal 4 indicators on digital literacy and greening education, endorsed by United Nations member states. She co-authored global education policy with former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and presented it at the United Nations Headquarters, urging member states to take action. Arora has represented youth perspectives at major forums, including the United Nations General Assembly, World Health Assembly, World Bank, and G20 meetings. At the World Health Organization Headquarters in Switzerland, she launched the organization's first Adolescent Health Framework with WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus.

At the institutional level, Arora served on the Board of Governors at Western University, overseeing an operating budget of $896 million and contributing to strategic decisions on financial stewardship, academic policy, and institutional priorities. She co-founded The HopeSisters, a nonprofit organization that empowers students to lead local health and education initiatives. The organization has been recognized by the Gates Foundation, Clinton Foundation, Chegg's Global Student Prize, and the United Nations Office for Project Services, and has expanded to 50 chapters and 5,000 participants worldwide.

Arora is a keynote speaker on topics including education policy, public health, youth well-being, grassroots impact, and youth advocacy. Her experiences as an immigrant and advocate for systemic change inform her approach to movement building and policy development. Arora encourages young people to persist in their advocacy efforts, emphasizing the importance of youth voices in shaping the future of education and health.