Rahat Hossain is a resident physician at the University of Toronto. A trainer and facilitator at the Institute for Change Leaders, he founded HEART (“Health and Equity through Advocacy, Research, and Transformation”), a program which transforms stories gathered from people experiencing marginalization into participatory, research-based theatre as a platform for policymaking. Through HEART, Rahat has been establishing the basis for “health policy by the homeless,” seeking to disrupt how policy is shaped to centre those with lived experience. He also plans and teaches a yearly session on health advocacy for medical students at McMaster University, conducts research in medical education using lived experience and theatre, and is undertaking health services and policy research to enhance knowledge and practice in health care for people experiencing homelessness.
