I uncover ‘natural experiments’ occuring all around us in health care. ● those overlooked shimmer with enchantment and possibility. Fears evaporate in the face of meaningful human connection. ● I gain insight into my own essence, the essence of others, and what defines us all as humans. ● Mother Nature reveals how marvelously intricate and malleable human biology can be. ● I envision new ways to tackle some of the most pressing problems facing our youth. ● I figure out how to mix creativity with practicality. ● I can think more clearly, see the stories I need to tell more sharply. ● I acknowledge my patients—their trauma, hopes and aspirations—helping them innovate, empower, and fullfill their goals. ● the walls between scientific disciplines crumble. ● I make connections, look at patterns and changes, finding cues to new solutions that hadn’t been thought of. ● the power of imagination and creativity in advancing humanity’s health is limitless. ● I am in awe at the power people have to endure life’s challenges which stimulates ideas to make life a little easier. ● we can reimagine medicine. ● which one, the bread, the bra, or the woman? ● we focus on the holistic patient experience and BOSTON | MARCH 2-4 strive to make each day better for patients and caregivers. ● I find structural loopholes, weaknesses, nonlinear paths— new strategic ways to invert the system’s power structure. ● the complexities of medical diagnosis are a puzzle to be solved rather than an unscalable cliff to be navigated around. ● the world of possibility opens up. ● I see the far horizon of life and death and instead of fear I find myself full of strength and acceptance. ● difficult problems become simple tasks and invite elegant solutions. ● I see the law and the legal system not as they are, but as they can become. ● I find fun new problems to work on. ● we allow time manage- ment to fly out the window and let serendipity orchestrate productivity. ● I am “feeling more alive,” biologically nonsensical, but captures the curiosity, insight and connectedness of wonder. ● I expose the inner workings of govern- ment agencies and corporations, in order to make positive change. ● healthcare becomes more accessible, and individuals and communities become healthier. Dear Friends,
We’re delighted to welcome you to TEDMED 2020 and to our first-ever gathering in Boston, a city of cutting-edge knowledge, world-class excellence and innovation in leadership across health and medicine.
The TEDMED Community has always nurtured an extraordinary capacity for wonder in every sense of the word: amazement, inspiration, delight, curiosity and so much more. This year, we celebrate these touchstones as we “make way for wonder”—the central theme of this year’s gathering.
Ultimately, a feeling of wonder permeates every aspect of health and medicine:
• Wonder, understood as awe and amazement, is what a scientist feels upon unlocking a transformative insight about the nature of life or healing.
• Wonder, meaning admiration and inspiration, is what a caregiver feels when a brave patient achieves a hard-fought step toward better health.
• Wonder, defined as an uplifting aspiration to knowledge, is what drives the quest for discovery.
• And, wonder is what all of us experience when we share the excitement of a breakthrough or powerful new insight from the TEDMED Stage or when we open the door to new understanding in conversation with a fellow Delegate.
2 We are fortunate to live in a time when there Finally, certain Speakers will invite a sense is, perhaps, more opportunity to experience of wonder as deep as humanity itself wonder than ever before. This is an era of by confronting age-old mysteries such sudden and surprising accomplishments—of as death, birth, the nature of the brain, astonishing possibilities—and of revolutionary and how we define physical reality. achievements in every imaginable field. This year, TEDMED continues our tradition Accordingly, this year’s Speakers will spark of offering two viewing options to enjoy our sense of hope and wonder by revealing the full stage program. Enter the theatre fresh approaches and potential solutions for a live experience with our Speakers, hidden inside problems that often seem or view talks from our comfy simulcast intractable. These challenges include lounges while enjoying a snack or specialty dementia, urban violence, the global water coffee from our onsite baristas. shortage, and even the conundrum of making healthcare both affordable and just. Beyond the stage, you’ll experience the wonder of sheer enthusiasm in The Social Our Speakers will invite us to transform Hub, our immersive social space where and expand how we see old age. They you will get to know TEDMED Partners, will awaken our joy and wonder at meet their leadership, and learn about the the power of doctor-patient dialogue, innovative ideas they are bringing to life. and the nexus of art and science. You’ll also have the opportunity to engage with this year’s Hive class of Innovators Some will reveal tragic or shocking truths like never before through an Augmented about patient rights—and human rights Reality experience, TEDMED Scout. Prepare —on issues ranging from immigration to to explore questions such as “What if we prisoner abuse, and from mental health to could harness animal superpowers to cure pharmaceutical drug quality. In each case, they our worst diseases?” or “What if no one will spur wonder at the role of medicine in ever had to lose a limb due to diabetes?” balancing the scales of justice and compassion. When you’re not enjoying Talks or a social Several Speakers will inspire a sense of awe break, we invite you to take advantage of and wonder at how much we ourselves can our morning TEDMED Health sessions, achieve, individually and collectively, when including joining a mindfulness session facing troubling social and medical conditions. or taking an invigorating run or walk with They will share promising new lines of a fellow Delegate along the seaport. research, and exciting possible treatments for problems ranging from opioid addiction TEDMED Meetups take place between to the medical impact of our climate. sessions and are designed for you to get
3 to know the Speakers and Innovators in a more intimate setting, as you engage in moderated conversations hosted by TEDMED Partners and thought leaders from our community. We urge you to take full advantage of these curated conversations as opportunities to ask questions and share your own perspective.
And, don’t miss more opportunities to connect during our Opening Session Reception and our Tuesday Evening Celebration. Each day of TEDMED will also end with a night of cocktails and conversation.
Once again in 2020, TEDMED’s global community joins us remotely via our TEDMED Live simulcast, making the TEDMED program accessible to those thinkers and doers on the frontline of health and medicine worldwide.
TEDMED gratefully acknowledges our generous Partners and contributors, whose support makes TEDMED and our TEDMED Live simulcast possible. We deeply appreciate their vital membership in our community. And, we thank you, our Delegates, for your dedication to creating a healthier humanity with all of us.
Over the next few days, we invite each and everyone of you to “make way for wonder” in TEDMED’s trademark mix of provocative questions, inspiring ideas, creative collisions, and intriguing possibilities.
Let the wonder begin!
Sincerely, The TEDMED Team
4 Contents
Hosts 37 Leor Weinberger 66 Mercy Asiedu 12 Kafui Dzirasa 38 Lisa Sanders 67 Nancy Yu 13 Roxanne Khamsi 39 Louise Aronson 68 Niamh O’Hara 14 Shirley Bergin 40 Matt Hepburn 69 Peter Hames 15 Udaya Patnaik 41 Michel Maharbiz 70 Richard Hanbury 16 Vanessa Ruiz 42 Ralph Nader 71 Sunny Williams Speakers 43 Riitta Ikonen and 72 Taylor Justice Karoline Hjorth 17 Amit Choudhary 73 Ted Schenkelberg 44 Sandro Galea 18 Anne Basting 74 William Dunbar 45 Shekinah Elmore 19 Anne Marie Albanno 75 Partners 46 Suchi Saria 20 Anupam B. Jena 47 Thijs Biersteker 89 Gratitude 21 Beatie Wolfe 48 Thomas Abt 22 Cheryl Holder 49 Wanda Irving 23 Cheryl King 50 Yasmin Hurd 24 Francis X. Shen 51 Zuberoa Marcos 25 Fred Moll 26 Frederick Streeter Innovators Barrett 55 Andrew Beck 27 Gokul Upadhyayula 56 Andrew Le 28 Heidi Larson 57 Andy Blackwell 29 Homer Venters 58 April Koh 30 Jay Walker 59 Claire Novorol 31 Jonathan Gruber 60 Gabe Kwong 32 Joseph Shin 61 Jane van Dis 33 Jyoti Sharma 62 Jonathan Bloom 34 Katherine Eban 63 Katharine Grabek 35 Kevin Toolis 64 Kevin Quennesson 36 Laurie Hallmark 65 Leah Sparks
5 Scholars
The TEDMED TEDMED thanks our Partners for their generous support Scholarship Program in making these scholarships possible. Below, we proudly present this year’s Scholars:
We created a scholarship Abe Janis Meg Barron program that supports the Alex Lopez Michele Reed opportunity for outstanding Alexandrea K. Ramnarine Minesh Patel individuals to join us and Amir Kishon Nicholas A. Giordano Andrew Chou Oyuka Byambasuren lend their voice as we Anne Maitland Paul Lindberg make way for wonder at Bernadette Greenwood Peter A. DePergola II this year’s gathering. Beth Mack Pooja Chandrashekar Bhanu Ghantasala Rachel Rizal TEDMED Scholars Biodun Awosusi Ria Rungta Brendan Brbich Robyn Grobler Each year, TEDMED awards full Christopher Lee Sara Jiayang Li and partial scholarships to ensure Daniel Bu Seth Feuerstein a wide range of perspectives are Darren Saunders sj Miller represented at TEDMED. These Dov Biran Stephen Chen recipients include students, Elena Minenko Tareq Al Saadi researchers, doctors, nurses, Elizabeth W. Mwashuma Tonya Winders designers, public health workers, Evan Yates Toyosi Okurounmu first responders, entrepreneurs, Fahima Dossa Victor Ekuta and many others who apply for a Fidaul Alam Vivian Ho scholarship. From an annual pool Frank Qian Xiya Ma Jaime Bland of applicants, TEDMED selects a Jenny Hansen Massive Scholars variety of Scholars who demonstrate Jessica Dale a great capacity for innovation, Jessica Logsdon Alyssa Shepard creativity and a commitment to Joshua Peters Brittney G. Borowiec shaping a healthier world. This Joy Tobin Devang Mehta year, TEDMED continues to support Kaitlyn N. Sadtler Jiwandeep Kohli a group of Scholars from the Kanupriya Agarwal Lauren White organization, Massive Science. These Kelly Jamieson Thomas Monica Javidnia Scholars represent the intersection Kyle Isaacson Pallavi Pant of science and communication and Leigh Leibel Sophie Okolo are contributing to enhancing our Mani Berenji Tara Fernandez collective understanding of the Mari Teitelbaum Xinwen Zhu science, which is the foundation for Martin Jensen each TEDMED Talk. Matthew Marquardt
6 TEDMED Live
The TEDMED Community and conversation is not limited to Boston’s Seaport District—we welcome a global community of institutions and individuals who join us from remote locations around the world. From aspiring medical students and their instructors to seasoned surgeons and the shapers of policy, there are many on the frontline of health and medicine whom we embrace as a part of the TEDMED Community.
Our TEDMED Live program provides the remote community with access to a live and on-demand streaming of TEDMED’s stage program. This program is provided at no cost to select organizations on the frontline of health and medicine—including medical schools, teaching hospitals, schools of public health, nursing schools, and other academic institutions—all made possible by the generosity of our Partners. Our hope is that the TEDMED Live program catalyzes new connections and drives further conversation in places around the world and online.
Over the years, TEDMED Live is proud to have collaborated with leading institutions such as the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Veteran Affairs, the Academia Nacional de Medicina in Brazil, countless student associations, medical schools, and many more. We are delighted that a global community can be part of our annual gathering, and we gratefully acknowledge the support of our Partners in making TEDMED Live possible!
7 TEDMED Health
As you unplug from your day-to-day routine at TEDMED 2020, we provide you with plenty of opportunities to clear your mind and digest new ideas. Whether you prefer to connect with some new friends at our evening celebrations, enjoy a dip in the indoor pool or go for an invigorating morning run in the Seaport District, it is all available to you. You can also join Wisdom Labs for morning mindfulness sessions, using guided meditation practice to start the day with focus, emotional awareness, and connection.
With so much to do, it is important to stay fueled. Our creative menu is full of options for every type of diet. An assortment of healthy and hearty choices, including an array of nutritious snacks that our generous snack partners have provided for us to enjoy. For a little morning caffeination or mid-day treat, artisan baristas from a local coffee brewer and roaster are joining us in our Social Hub.
To learn more about everything TEDMED has to offer outside of the theatre, be sure to check out the TEDMED Connect app.
8 TEDMED Tech
Connect with fellow Delegates using the TEDMED Connect App, available for download in the iTunes and Google Play app stores. Keep everything you need to know about the entire TEDMED 2020 experience at your fingertips. With TEDMED connect, you can:
- Stay current with a minute-by-minute schedule of all events - Receive important updates and messages - Find maps and information about the location - Explore all details of the TEDMED experience outside of the Theatre - Learn more about the program’s Speakers and Hive Innovators - Find and connect with other Delegates
One Program, Two Ways to Watch
Take advantage of two unique ways to enjoy the Stage Program. You can watch the action live in the Theatre—our “Low Tech” zone—we ask Delegates to keep all devices off so that undivided attention can be given to the Speaker on stage. If you do wish to use a device in the Theatre, please sit in the last row and utilize the high top tables. This will prevent bright screens from distracting the Speakers or being caught on camera. Or, you can watch the live simulcast in our Social Hub.
9 Notes:
10 SPEAKERS About the Artist
At the heart of TEDMED’s mission is the quest for a deeper understanding of ourselves and the world around us. As tools for discovery, we recognize the essential roles that both science and art play in this pursuit. And yet, while science is rarely underappreciated in this search, art can often be overlooked. We believe that art serves an important role as a catalyst for innovation and creativity and provides the inspiration needed to birth new questions and new paths for scientific research. Art and science are inevitably intertwined, serving as inspiration for one another and constantly propelling us toward progress. In recognition of this important relationship, we share our illustrated 2020 speaker portraits with you. These portraits have been brought to life by TEDMED 2020 Artist Alvaro Tapia Hidalgo. Our deepest gratitude to Alvaro for sharing his talents with the TEDMED community.
The portraits for this year’s program were created by Alvaro Tapia Hidalgo, a graphic designer and illustrator based in Valparaíso, Chile. Alvaro began his career as an art director, film editor, and post-producer for audiovisual projects. Since 2011, he has been a full-time illustrator, working with a combination of traditional techniques and digital image processing. His portraits have been featured in leading publications around the world. Alvaro has a particular interest in medical illustration, and a number of his anatomically inspired pieces have been exhibited in galleries in North and South America. Speakers
Our Speakers at TEDMED 2020, along with our entire TEDMED community, share a common passion to create a healthier world. For all of us, this passion is fueled by compassion, idealism, curiosity, and a profound sense of wonder at the dazzling potential of health and medicine.
This year, TEDMED Speakers will take us on a series of extraordinary journeys, enabling us to explore the power and possibilities that come to us when we make way for wonder.
Our 2020 Speakers come to us from many nations including Africa, Holland, Ireland, India, the Netherlands, Norway, the U.K, and the U.S. This multi- disciplinary group represents expertise in a wide range of fields, from neurolaw science to chemical biophysics, and from teen suicide prevention to machine learning, violence reduction to robotics and many more.
Collectively, they will bring us fresh perspectives on a wide range of cutting- edge topics in health and medicine. They will tackle such thought-provoking questions as, What are the consequences of greater accessibility to genetic data? How can miniaturized technology provide real-time information about molecular and physiological states? Can we truly be prepared for the next pandemic? And, how can medical leaders best overcome vaccine hesitancy?
Other Speakers will invite us to travel from the depths of injustice to the heights of moral conflict—and from the oldest components of patient care, to the newest technologies and tools in diagnosis and treatment.
In all, our 2020 Speaker roster offers an intriguing group of individuals who are sure to spark intellectual excitement while enriching human imagination as we make way for wonder.
Our deepest appreciation and thanks go to this year’s Editorial Advisory Board and extraordinary Session Hosts, who graciously volunteered considerable amounts of time and expertise to help us with this year’s program.
11 KAFUI DZIRASA Brain Engineer SESSION HOST
I see the world as it should be.
As the first African American to complete a PhD What is the most memorable in Neurobiology at Duke University, psychiatrist book you’ve read? Kafui Dzirasa is pushing the limits in more ways than one. His research is focused on rethinking Bible. I hear the movie is the framework that currently dictates the way we pretty good too. diagnose, view, and treat mental illness. Through his work, Kafui hopes to reveal links between brain When you were younger, circuit malfunction and symptoms of mental illness, what did you want to be with the ultimate goal of producing neuroelectrical when you grew up? stimulation remedies for these diseases. Kafui is currently an endowed associate professor in the Older. Yes, definitely older. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at the Duke University School of Medicine. In 2008, If you could possess a super he was recognized as one of Ebony Magazine’s 30 power what would it be? Young Leaders of the Future and his laboratory has Mind control (without a been featured on CBS’s 60 Minutes. He also shared his work at TEDMED 2016 and is a member of brain machine interface TEDMED’s Editorial Advisory Board. device).
@KafuiDzirasa neuro.duke.edu/research/faculty-labs/dzirasa-lab
THOUGHTS AND IDEAS:
12 ROXANNE KHAMSI Gene-Obsessed Journalist SESSION HOST
Mother Nature reveals how marvelously intricate and malleable human biology can be.
Roxanne Khamsi is an award-winning journalist What’s one thing people whose articles have appeared in publications such don’t know about you? as The Economist, WIRED magazine and The New York Times Magazine. Recognition for Roxanne’s writing If I hear a Beatles song, I includes the American Medical Writers Association’s am physically compelled to Walter C. Alvarez Award and a first-place award sing along. from the Association of Health Care Journalists. For more than a decade, she served as Chief News Editor When you were younger, at the international biomedical journal Nature what did you want to be Medicine. In addition to her work as a writer and editor, she has taught at Stony Brook University’s when you grew up? Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science and at At age 8 I wanted to be a the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism journalist with a side gig as at the City University of New York. Roxanne earned her degree in biology from Dartmouth College, with children’s book author. I’m a concentration in genetics. still working on the latter.
@rkhamsi If you could possess a super linkedin.com/in/roxanne-khamsi power what would it be? Taking carbon out of the atmosphere.
THOUGHTS AND IDEAS:
13 SHIRLEY BERGIN Superhero-In-Residence PROGRAM HOST
the power of imagination and creativity in advancing humanity’s health is limitless.
Shirley Bergin is the Chief Operating Officer and What’s the most rewarding Chief Marketing Officer of TEDMED. She leads risk you’ve taken? all aspects of the TEDMED organization, from chairing the Editorial Advisory Board to supporting Having children and the curation of TEDMED’s annual stage program becoming a mother. and startup showcase (aka “The Hive Innovator Program”), to building long-term strategic What’s one thing people relationships with industry and academic leaders, don’t know about you? the venture community, and startup organizations. And when it comes to TEDMED’s annual event, I was born with red curly she serves as its Executive Producer. Shirley is hair so my parents named fiercely passionate about putting TEDMED’s brand, me after Shirley Temple. platform, and community to work in shaping a healthier world. If you could possess a super
linkedin.com/in/shirleybergin power what would it be? @TEDMEDShirley The difference maker in me says “Healing.” Imagine what the world would be like if we were able to eradicate all disease and reduce the world’s suffering. The kid in me says “Flying.” As a child, I loved Peter Pan and always wanted to visit Neverland.
THOUGHTS AND IDEAS:
14 UDAYA PATNAIK Innovation Catalyst SESSION HOST
difficult problems become simple tasks and invite elegant solutions.
Udaya Patnaik is an entrepreneur and advisor. If you had a theme song, He helps companies create and reinvent their what would it be? businesses and works with foundations, nonprofits and government agencies to increase their impact. “Thank You for Being a Udaya advises executives in technology, healthcare, Friend” by Andrew Gold. consumer packaged goods, philanthropy and retail. What’s one thing people Over the years, he’s had the privilege of working with leaders at companies such as GE, Target, FedEx, don’t know about you? Harley-Davidson and Stanford Medicine to solve I love playing electric bass. long term strategy issues while delivering rapid results. Udaya is a frequent speaker on topics around What advice would you give innovation and growth and has taught new product your younger self? development at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. He currently sits on the board Love and laughter beat of KaBOOM!, a nonprofit dedicated to giving kids skepticism and cynicism more opportunities, tools and places to play. He every time. Keep fighting also sits on the Advisory Board of Fundación Chile, the good fight every day a public-private partnership focused on economic development and innovation based in Santiago. but then shake it off, take a Udaya holds a B.S. in Civil and Environmental deep breath and smile big. Engineering from Stanford University.
@UdayaPatnaik linkedin.com/in/udayapatnaik
THOUGHTS AND IDEAS:
15 VANESSA RUIZ Artistic Anatomy Curator SESSION HOST
the windows to possibilities open and unseen connections appear between art and science.
Vanessa Ruiz is currently Creative Director at What’s one thing people Wolters Kluwer Health in Chicago, where she creates don’t know about you? experiences that inspire a deeper understanding of our bodies and our health. Vanessa is also I was on the Playboy the driving force behind Street Anatomy, an Morning Show years ago. online resource that aggregates contemporary I sold a line of histological works that explore the intersection of art and china plates at the time. medicine. For over 10 years, Street Anatomy has revealed human anatomy in street art, tattoos, 3-D They asked me to come printing, interior design, and food, among other on to talk about a plate media. The inspiration came while she pursued a that had a histological Master’s Degree in Biomedical Visualization at the pattern of the testes on University of Illinois at Chicago, where she learned how to create medical illustrations for clinicians. it. They called it, “the She created Street Anatomy in the hopes of taking testicle plate.” human anatomy into more public spaces via art, allowing people to have an appreciation of anatomy If you could possess a super outside of the medical world. She now uses that power what would it be? artistic view to lead a unique creative team in the healthcare space. One that uses art to help patients, Being able to breathe and the public, understand their health. Vanessa underwater. I love scuba was a Speaker at TEDMED 2015. diving, but what a pain it
@streetanatomy is having to put on all that streetanatomy.com equipment. I just want to dive in and go!
THOUGHTS AND IDEAS:
16 AMIT CHOUDHARY CRISPR-Taming Chemist
the walls between scientific disciplines crumble.
Chemist, biophysicist and professor Amit What is the most memorable Choudhary is a renowned pioneer in the book you’ve read? development of precision control tools for genome editing using CRISPR-Cas9 in multiple systems, Outliers: The story including gene drives. In 2011 Amit was appointed of success. a Junior Fellow of the Harvard Society of Fellows, and was hosted by Professor Stuart Schreiber at When you were younger, the Broad Institute where his research focused on what did you want to be beta-cell chemical biology. Amit’s laboratory, The when you grew up? Choudhary Laboratory, now develops chemical technologies and studies exceptional organisms Truck driver. that survive conditions considered pathological to humans. The Choudhary Laboratory has been If you could possess a super widely recognized by the Juvenile Diabetes Research power what would it be? Foundation’s Innovation Award, Burroughs Cyborg. Wellcome Fund’s Career Award at the Scientific Interface, NIH Director’s Transformative Research Award, DARPA’s Safe Genes award, and Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Sciences. Amit is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, an Associate Biologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and an Associate Member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.
facebook.com/broadinstitute linkedin.com/company/broad-institute_2 @ChoudharyLab
THOUGHTS AND IDEAS:
17 ANNE BASTING Creative Gerontologist
those overlooked shimmer with enchantment and possibility. Fears evaporate in the face of meaningful human connection.
Anne Basting is transforming human lives by What’s one thing people focusing on infusing the arts and humanities don’t know about you? into care settings dedicated to people with cognitive disabilities like dementia. As a scholar One of my first jobs was and an artist, Anne’s innovative work has been editorial assistant at Chain recognized by a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship, Saw Age Magazine. an Ashoka Fellowship, a Rockefeller Fellowship, and multiple major grants. She is the author/editor What advice would you give of multiple books, including the Penelope Project your younger self? (U of Iowa), Forget Memory (Johns Hopkins), and the forthcoming Creative Care (Harper One). Anne Always play the long game. is Professor of Theatre at the Peck School of the And treasure every moment. Arts at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, and founder and President of TimeSlips, which What is the most memorable is dedicated to fostering an alliance of artists book you’ve read? and caregivers bringing meaning and joy to late life through creativity. TimeSlips has certified Slapstick, Kurt Vonnegut; facilitators in 47 states and 18 countries. the motto of the main character is “Lonesome facebook.com/TimeSlips-Creative-Storytelling-167205470005660 @UWM No More!” linkedin.com/in/anne-basting-a16913
THOUGHTS AND IDEAS:
18 ANNE MARIE ALBANNO Youth Anxiety Psychologist
I reach into and free the hearts and minds of children and parents who are in the grip of unrelenting anxiety.
Anxiety awareness expert Anne Marie Albano is What is the most memorable a leading pioneer in clinical child and adolescent book you’ve read? psychology. As Professor of Medical Psychology in Psychiatry at Columbia University, Founding My Life by Benvenuto Director of the Columbia University Clinic for Cellini. Anxiety and Related Disorders and Clinical Site Director of New York Presbyterian Hospital’s Youth What’s one thing people Anxiety Center, Anne Marie’s work has influenced a don’t know about you? myriad of cognitive behavioral treatment manuals. She has also contributed to the Anxiety Disorders My avocation is all things Interview Schedule for Children for The Diagnostic and to do with ancient Rome! Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5). She has served as Principal Investigator If you could possess a super for multiple NIH-funded studies examining the power what would it be? relative efficacy of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, medication, combination treatment, and pill I would love to fly! placebo in youth. Her book with Leslie Pepper, You and Your Anxious Child: Free Your Child from Fears and Worries and Create a Joyful Family Life, was a 2014 ABCT Self-Help Book Award winner and 2014 Self- Help Book Award winner from the American Society of Journalists and Authors.
facebook.com/columbiachildpsych @AnneMarieAlbano @ColumbiaPsych
THOUGHTS AND IDEAS:
19 ANUPAM B. JENA Creative Investigator
I uncover ‘natural experiments’ occurring all around us in health care.
Physician economist Anupam B. Jena advances If you had a theme song, the understanding of what works and what what would it be? does not work in healthcare by using “natural experiments” and big data. He studies phenomena “Let it go” (Frozen). such as the economics of physician behavior and the physician workforce, health care productivity, What’s the most rewarding and the economics of medical innovation. Anupam risk you’ve taken? is the Ruth L. Newhouse Associate Professor of Combining med school with Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School, an internist at Massachusetts General Hospital, and a doctoral study in economics Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of instead of biology. Economic Research. Anupam is the 2007 recipient of the Eugene Garfield Award by Research America What’s one thing people for his work demonstrating the economic value of don’t know about you? medical innovation in HIV/AIDS. In 2013, he was the first social scientist to win the NIH Director’s I’m learning American Early Independence Award. His research and Sign Language. editorials have been featured in The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Freakonomics, and NPR. He is also co-host of the podcast, Tradeoffs, which aims to make sense of the complicated, costly, and often counterintuitive world of health care.
@AnupamBJena
THOUGHTS AND IDEAS:
20 BEATIE WOLFE Musical Visionary
the world of possibility opens up.
Self-proclaimed “musical weirdo” Beatie Wolfe is If you had a theme song, a visionary dedicated to pioneering new formats for what would it be? music, which reunite tangibility, storytelling and ceremony. She is the co-founder of the profound “Rainbow Connection” research project, The Times, which looks at the by Kermit. power of music for people living with dementia. The Times was picked up by Stanford, the Alzheimer’s When you were younger, Association, and led to the establishment of the what did you want to be charity Music For Dementia 2020. WIRED magazine when you grew up? named Beatie one of “22 people changing the world.” She has created a series of world-first designs that Free. bridge the physical and digital, which include: a 3D theatre for the palm of your hand; a wearable record If you could possess a super jacket; and most recently, an ‘anti-stream’ from the power what would it be? quietest room on earth and space beam via the Big Bang horn. Europe’s largest art centre, Barbican, The ability to turn apathy commissioned a documentary about Beatie entitled: into empathy. Orange Juice for the Ears: From Space Beams to Anti- Streams which explores her music, innovations, philanthropic work and the shared intention that connects them all.
facebook.com/beatiewolfe @beatiewolfe linkedin.com/in/beatiewolfe
THOUGHTS AND IDEAS:
21 CHERYL HOLDER Clinician for Climate Action
I am in awe at the power people have to endure life’s challenges which stimulates ideas to make life a little easier.
Cheryl Holder, a Fellow in the American College What’s the most rewarding of Physicians and key medical provider leader, is risk you’ve taken? dedicated to serving underserved populations. As faculty at Florida International University Herbert Starting over in academic Wertheim College of Medicine, Cheryl’s work medicine in 2009. assesses the impact of social determinants of overall health on health outcomes. Her work also addresses What’s one thing people diversity in the health professions through pipeline don’t know about you? programs. Key among her efforts is her work around HIV and the broader health impact associated Favorite TV show is The with climate change. Cheryl is the Director of Great British Bake Off. Green Family Foundation NeighborhoodHELP™ Education and Pipeline Program. She is President When you were younger, of the Florida State Medical Association in addition what did you want to be to serving as Co-Chair of Florida Clinicians for when you grew up? Climate Action, where she works to increase climate literacy and enhance awareness of the impact of A foreign correspondent. climate change on vulnerable populations. Cheryl is the recipient of the 2016 FIU Medallion Cal Kovens Distinguished Community Service Award; the 2017 Faculty Convocation Award in Service, and the 2019 Tow Humanism in Medicine Award.
facebook.com/FLDocs4Climate linkedin.com/in/cheryl-holder-6b76a225 @the_fsma
THOUGHTS AND IDEAS:
22 CHERYL KING Youth Suicide Interventionist
I envision new ways to tackle some of the most pressing problems facing our youth.
Cheryl King uses evidence-based practices, What is the most memorable assessment, and intervention to develop an adaptive book you’ve read? suicide risk screen that can be disseminated nationwide. She is currently Principal Investigator All the Light We Cannot See. of multiple National Institutes of Mental Health- funded projects including “Emergency Department If you could possess a super Screen for Teens at Risk for Suicide,” “Electronic power what would it be? Bridge to Mental Health for College Students,” and To lift people’s emotional “24-Hour Risk for Suicide Attempts in a National Cohort of Adolescents.” A clinical psychologist, pain and enable them to educator and research mentor, Cheryl has served find meaning and love in as Director of Psychology Training and Chief their lives. Psychologist in the Department of Psychiatry, and has twice received the Teacher of the Year What advice would you give Award in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. She is your younger self? the lead author of Teen Suicide Risk: A Practitioner Guide to Screening, Assessment, and Management. Listen to the wise ones, but Cheryl has provided testimony in the US Senate on follow your own ideas! youth suicide prevention and is a past President of the American Association of Suicidology, the Association of Psychologists in Academic Health Centers, and the Society for Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology. Cheryl is a member of the National Advisory Mental Health Council.
facebook.com/UniversityofMichiganMedicineDepressionCenter linkedin.com/in/cheryl-king-9437b04b @ckcpcs
THOUGHTS AND IDEAS:
23 FRANCIS X. SHEN Neurolawyer
I see the law and the legal system not as they are, but as they can become.
Francis X. Shen is committed to building the What’s the most rewarding new field of law and neuroscience, and conducts risk you’ve taken? empirical, legal, and ethical research to examine how insights from neuroscience can make the Flying to Rio de Janeiro legal system more just and effective. In his role for a second date with as Director of the Shen Neurolaw Lab, his motto a woman I had just met. is “Every story is a brain story.” Francis is also the (That woman is now my Executive Director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Law, Brain, and Behavior; an wife!) Instructor in Psychology at Harvard Medical School, and an Associate Professor of Law, McKnight What’s one thing people Presidential Fellow, as well as a faculty member don’t know about you? in the Graduate Program on Neuroscience at the I have been competing University of Minnesota. Francis has published extensively on a range of neurolaw topics. in the hurdles for 27 straight years, and I’m the facebook.com/MGHCLBB five-time defending USA @mghclbb Track and Field champion for the 400 meter hurdles in my age group.
THOUGHTS AND IDEAS:
24 FRED MOLL Medical Robotics Visionary
As Johnson & Johnson’s Digital Surgery Group Chief Development Officer, Fred Moll makes robotics surgery his mission. Prior to his time at Johnson & Johnson, Fred founded Auris Health, Inc., a surgical robotics firm focused on the detection of lung cancer. In addition to Auris Health, Fred is previous founder and CEO of Hansen Medical and Intuitive Surgical, Inc., a publicly traded company.
linkedin.com/company/aurishealth
THOUGHTS AND IDEAS:
25 FREDERICK STREETER BARRETT Psychedelic Neuroscientist
I gain insight into my own essence, the essence of others, and what defines us all as humans.
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine If you had a theme song, Professor, Frederick Streeter Barrett, is a core what would it be? faculty member of the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research. Frederick’s latest research Bela Fleck and the sheds light on the acute and long-term effects of Flecktones—“Sojourn psychedelic experiences on emotions, cognition, of Arjuna.” and the brain. He has shown that psychedelic drugs such as psilocybin and LSD, when they are active When you were younger, in the body, disrupt brain networks that support what did you want to be cognitive control. This may occur by short-circuiting a key brain region called the claustrum, which is when you grew up? the potential seat of consciousness in the brain. At A musician. the same time, psychedelic drugs facilitate activity in brain regions that support emotions, memories, What advice would you give and meaning-making. The long-term effects of this your younger self? experience include a reduction in negative emotions and an enduring increase in positive emotions, Neither temerity nor which may, in part, explain the therapeutic value timidness prevails. of psychedelics when treating mood and substance use disorders.
facebook.com/JHPsychedelics linkedin.com/in/fredbarrettphd @FredBarrettPhD
THOUGHTS AND IDEAS:
26 GOKUL UPADHYAYULA Bio-Imaging Pioneer
the impact of our work helps lay the foundation essential in understanding the essence of life.
Gokul Upadhyayula uses applied engineering and If you had a theme song, basic science to build cutting-edge, adaptive optical what would it be? multi-functional microscopes to enable imaging across scales spanning several orders of magnitude Andrea Bocelli, Sarah in space and time. As the leading scientific Brightman—“Time To director at UC Berkeley’s Advanced Bioimaging Say Goodbye.” Center, Gokul’s vision is to provide state-of-the-art microscopy, and dedicated human and hardware What’s one thing people resources capable of handling terabyte to petabyte don’t know about you? scale projects. In addition to this, his mission is to develop robust, open source computational I’m an ordained minister. workflows that allow scientists to extract biologically meaningful insights. His earlier work When you were younger, includes studying the charge transfer properties of what did you want to be cyanine dyes and bioinspired electrets using ultra- when you grew up? fast femtosecond spectroscopy during his time at University of California, Riverside; and using lattice Fighter pilot. light-sheet microscopy with high temporal and spatial resolution at the molecular level during his postdoctoral research at Harvard Medical School / Boston Children’s Hospital.
linkedin.com/in/srigokul @rxist525
THOUGHTS AND IDEAS:
27 HEIDI LARSON Vaccine Trust Anthropologist
I make connections, look at patterns and changes, finding cues to new solutions that hadn’t been thought of.
Heidi Larson, Anthropologist and founding If you had a theme song, TM Director of The Vaccine Confidence Project , a what would it be? WHO Centre of Excellence, is an internationally recognized leader working to address global vaccine “Get up, stand up.” hesitancy. Heidi’s research focuses on the analysis of social and political factors that can affect uptake What is the most memorable of health interventions. Her interest is centered book you’ve read? on risk and rumor management from the clinical Future Shock. trials stage to the market delivery stage, and building public trust. Previously, Heidi led Global When you were younger, Immunisation Communication at UNICEF, chaired GAVI’s Advocacy Task Force, and served on the WHO what did you want to be SAGE Working Group on vaccine hesitancy. Her when you grew up? current academic appointed roles include Professor Biomedical engineer. of Anthropology, Risk and Decision Science, Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine; Associate Professor, Department of Global Health, at the University of Washington; and Fellow at the Chatham House Centre on Global Health Security.
@ProfHeidiLarson
THOUGHTS AND IDEAS:
28 HOMER VENTERS Prisoner Health Warrior
the distinctions between urgency and importance become clear.
Homer Venters is a leading expert in the field What’s the most rewarding of medicine and epidemiology. His work aims risk you’ve taken? to bridge together health systems, surveillance, and justice. As the Senior Health and Justice Working as a jail doctor. Fellow for Community Oriented Correctional Health Services, his work focuses on medical What advice would you give assisted treatment implementation, injury and your younger self? death documentation, and traumatic brain injury Question the fairness and reduction in the prison health system. Homer is the author of the critically acclaimed book Life evidence behind every set and Death in Rikers Island. Homer is a physician of rules. by training and Clinical Associate Professor at the NYC College of Global Public Health. He has contributed to dozens of peer-reviewed scientific publications on topics of health and justice—work that has attracted congressional attention.
linkedin.com/in/homer-venters-bb7b0214 @homerventers
THOUGHTS AND IDEAS:
29 JAY WALKER Perpetual Inventor
astounding realities stretch the boundaries of belief and turbocharge the muscles of imagination.
Active in the field of medicine since 2012, Jay What would the title of your Walker serves as Chairman of TEDMED. A serial memoir be? entrepreneur, Jay has founded three companies that have gone from launch to 50 million customers Relentlessly Curious. each. Jay is the world’s 10th most patented living inventor, with more than 750 issued US patents in What’s the most rewarding technology-related fields. He is also Chairman of risk you’ve taken? Upside, a travel and technology company that serves Becoming a parent. the unmanaged business traveler. A passionate student and practitioner of imagination, Jay When you were younger, founded and curates the Library of the History of Human Imagination, which WIRED magazine called what did you want to be “the most amazing private library in the world.” when you grew up? The personal secretary for @Jay_S_Walker tedmed.com a superstar businessman.
THOUGHTS AND IDEAS:
30 JONATHAN GRUBER Health System Architect
I figure out how to mix creativity with practicality.
Health economist Jonathan Gruber leads the What’s the most rewarding Health Care Program at the National Bureau of risk you’ve taken? Economic Research. He is also a long time Ford Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Having children. Institute of Technology. Jonathan’s expansive body of work cuts across finance, policy, and health What’s one thing people care reform rooted in scientific research. As a don’t know about you? technical consultant to the Obama Administration, I am an obsessive fan of Jonathan helped to craft the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Prior to that, from 2003–2006, live music and see 50+ Jonathan was a key architect of Massachusetts’ shows per year. health reform effort. In 2006, Jonathan received the American Society of Health Economists Inaugural If you could possess a super Medal for the best health economist in the nation power what would it be? aged 40 and under. Jonathan has been repeatedly rated as one of the top 100 most powerful people The ability to move in health care in the United States by Modern through time. Healthcare Magazine.
THOUGHTS AND IDEAS:
31 JOSEPH SHIN Child Rights Physician
I acknowledge my patients—their trauma, hopes and aspirations— helping them innovate, empower, and fulfill their goals.
Public health advocate and physician researcher What is the most memorable Joseph Shin has dedicated his career to elevating book you’ve read? the voices of survivors of torture, asylum seekers, immigrants, trafficking victims and individuals in 100 Years of Solitude. immigration detention. Joseph uses his expertise to conduct detailed forensic medical evaluations If you could possess a super to document evidence of human rights abuses and power what would it be? advocate against injustices. At the heart of this To speak to every living work are innovative interdisciplinary partnerships with legal aid and human rights organizations, creature (across language, combining medical, public health, research, culture...and species?). legal and advocacy tools to advance justice, accountability, and health. Joseph currently serves What advice would you give as Assistant Professor of Medicine and Co-Medical your younger self? Director at the Weill Cornell Center for Human Take more risks and not Rights where he oversees the medical forensic evaluation, training and research programs, in to “make perfection the addition to a new interdisciplinary partnership with enemy of the good.” Cornell Law School focused on health, human rights and law. He is a recipient of the Legal Aid Society’s Pro Bono Publico Award, and New York Lawyers for the Public Interest’s Felix A. Fishman Award for his work advancing health and justice.
@Joe_ShinMD
THOUGHTS AND IDEAS:
32 JYOTI SHARMA Water Conservationist
I find inspiration in everything around me.
Jyoti Sharma is committed to improving the What is the most memorable health and well-being of communities across book you’ve read? India by fusing her economics and business backgrounds to facilitate social innovations that Siddhartha by improve water security and sanitation. In 2004, Hermann Hesse. she founded the FORCE Group of Nonprofits with an interdisciplinary approach to addressing water What’s the most rewarding conservation. A nationally acclaimed organization, risk you’ve taken? FORCE brings access to clean water in communities, reducing the burden of disease. Jyoti is an Economics Marrying my husband. Honors graduate from Delhi University, business management alumnus from the prestigious Indian If you could possess a super Institute of Management, an Ashoka Fellow, and power what would it be? a 2016 Taubman Fellow and Social Entrepreneur Be like Water—change in Residence at Brown University. She has been nominated to several policy-making and advisory form, shape, fly, go deep committees for Water Conservation, Safe Water inside the earth, watch the and Sanitation of the Indian Union and State magic all around me and Governments. Jyoti has authored articles for in me as I flow. international publications in addition to authoring the book, Effective Social Innovation.
facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000478968534 linkedin.com/in/jyotisharmaforce @jyotiFORCE
THOUGHTS AND IDEAS:
33 KATHERINE EBAN Investigative Journalist
I expose the inner workings of government agencies and corporations, in order to make positive change.
Investigative journalist, Andrew Carnegie fellow, What’s one thing people and Fortune magazine contributor Katherine Eban don’t know about you? has reported on pharmaceutical counterfeiting, gun trafficking, and coercive interrogations by For years, I studied the CIA. Her work has won international acclaim circus: trapeze, and numerous awards. Her 2019 New York Times equilibristics, clowning. bestselling book, Bottle of Lies: The Inside Story of the Generic Drug Boom is based on a decade of reporting When you were younger, and reveals endemic fraud and alarming conditions what did you want to be in the overseas manufacturing plants where the majority of low-cost generic medicine is made. when you grew up? Katherine’s first book, Dangerous Doses: a True Story of A clown. The biggest Cops, Counterfeiters and the Contamination of America’s fight I ever had with my Drug Supply, was named one of the Best Books of 2005 by Kirkus Reviews. father was when I was accepted to both Brown facebook.com/KatherineEbanAuthor University and Ringling linkedin.com/in/katherineeban @KatherineEban Brothers College, and wanted to go to the latter. I chose the former.
What advice would you give to your younger self? You don’t have to prove yourself. Just be yourself.
THOUGHTS AND IDEAS:
34 KEVIN TOOLIS Death Thought Leader
I see the far horizon of life and death and instead of fear I find myself full of strength and acceptance.
BAFTA-winning film maker, director, bardic poet What is the most memorable and writer, Kevin Toolis takes on the challenge of book you’ve read? revealing how the half forgotten rituals of the past can enable us all to face death without fear. In his The Iliad. book, My Father’s Wake: How the Irish Teach Us to Live, Love and Die, Kevin lyrically and poetically explores What’s one thing people the death of his own father, Sonny, within the don’t know about you? ancestral embrace of the oldest rite of humanity— I am a big fan of cacti. the Irish Wake. His acclaimed nonfiction chronicle of Ireland’s Troubles, Rebel Hearts: Journeys Within What’s the most rewarding the IRA’s Soul, is widely regarded as the best single work ever written about the Irish Republican Army. risk you’ve taken? Kevin’s work as a documentary director spans across My dare to believe in borders, including Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, yourself as a writer and Syria, Lebanon, and Israel. He has also reported risk failure. across various socio-contextual topics including wars, famines and plagues. Kevin was nominated for an Emmy for his five part series on the rise of the cult of suicide bombing. Kevin is the founder of Many Rivers Films and a member of an Irish traditional arts band, Wonders of the Wake, that in song, music, keening, and bardic poetry celebrates the sorrow, laughter, and joy of an Irish Wake.
facebook.com/kevin.toolis @kevintoolis
THOUGHTS AND IDEAS:
35 LAURIE HALLMARK Mental Health Rights Defender
I find structural loopholes, weaknesses, nonlinear paths— new strategic ways to invert the system’s power structure.
Mental Health Lawyer Laurie Hallmark is What would the title of your committed to providing representation and memoir be? advocacy for people with serious mental illness to ensure that they can access critically important “This is not ok.” Refuse to support and services to live integrated lives give up or shut up. within their communities. By developing highly personalized Psychiatric Advance Directives— What’s one thing people the foundation for self-determination based don’t know about you? advocacy—Laurie is providing a mechanism to address the underlying issues leading to the cycle I love free food. I am of incarceration, hospitalization and homelessness skilled, and rather recidivism. Laurie is the Special Project Director shameless, in maximizing for Mental Health Programs for Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, which serves sixty-eight counties in my free food access. the state of Texas, from Austin to El Paso and the entire border region. Through a commitment to What advice would you give human and civil rights for people with serious to your younger self? mental illness, Texas RioGrande Legal Aid’s Mental Accept life’s duties. You’ll Health Programs seek to invert the system’s power find life’s joys. structure, making it accountable to the human beings it exists to serve. Currently, Laurie is an advisor to the state of California on the use of psychiatric advance directives.
linkedin.com/in/laurie-hallmark-05ab1687
THOUGHTS AND IDEAS:
36 LEOR WEINBERGER Virologist
which one, the bread, the bra, or the woman?
Virologist Leor Weinberger is the Bowes What is the most memorable Distinguished Professor at the Gladstone Institutes book you’ve read? and the University of California, San Francisco, where he leads a virology discovery group focused The Idea Factory. on engineering new, resistance-proof antiviral medicines for the developing world. In 2019, Leor What’s one thing people and his group succeeded in developing the first don’t know about you? Therapeutic Interfering Particles and showed it I build redwood to be effective against HIV in animals. Leor holds numerous patents for inventing novel antiviral artisan treehouses. medicines. He served on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Innovation review panel, and his What advice would you give research has been widely published in Science, your younger self? Nature, and Cell. Leor was a Pew Scholar, a Keck Follow your fears; when a awardee, and a Sloan Fellow. He is the only person to win the NIH Director’s Pioneer, Avant Garde, and direction scares you, that New Innovator Awards. is the one to follow, that is the uncharted and exciting weinbergerlab.ucsf.edu territory where discoveries linkedin.com/in/leor-weinberger-2778b3b6 @Weinberger_Lab are made.
THOUGHTS AND IDEAS:
37 LISA SANDERS Diagnosis Detective
the complexities of medical diagnosis are a puzzle to be solved rather than an unscalable cliff to be navigated around.
A board-certified internist and Emmy award- What’s the most rewarding winning producer at CBS News, Lisa Sanders risk you’ve taken? is also the author of the popular New York Times Magazine column, “Diagnosis” in which she explores Leaving television to how a doctor is able to make a diagnosis in patients become a physician. whose baffling symptoms have repeatedly brought them back to the doctor’s office or emergency room. What’s one thing people Lisa is able to translate the intricacies of medical don’t know about you? science and technology into stories that the reader can understand and enjoy. Lisa is featured in the I’m quite shy. Netflix documentary series called Diagnosis. In the series, Lisa follows eight patients with mysterious If you could possess a super symptoms as they search for answers by harnessing power what would it be? the “wisdom of the crowd.” By telling each patient’s To fly, of course. I still have story in the pages of The New York Times and inviting readers to share their thoughts and knowledge dreams in which I fly. on the symptoms, she uses crowdsourcing to lead these patients toward a diagnosis. Lisa was also a consultant for the hit TV series, House M.D., which was based on her column.
@LisaSandersmd
THOUGHTS AND IDEAS:
38 LOUISE ARONSON Elderhood Transformer
I am “feeling more alive,” biologically nonsensical, but captures the curiosity, insight and connectedness of wonder.
Geriatrician Louise Aronson is dedicated to What’s one thing people uncovering revolutionary conclusions that will don’t know about you? challenge our assumptions about aging and elderhood. Her New York Times bestseller Elderhood: I was born blind in Redefining Aging, Transforming Medicine, and my left eye and have Reimagining Life has been praised as a “monumental no depth perception. book about growing old in America”. Louise has received the Gold Professorship in Humanism in When you were younger, Medicine, the California Homecare Physician of the what did you want to be Year award, and the American Geriatrics Society Clinician-Teacher of the Year award. TODAY, CBS when you grew up? This Morning, NPR’s Fresh Air, Politico, LitHub, Kaiser A professional Health News, and Tech Nation have all featured basketball player. Louise’s influential work. Louise is the recipient of four Pushcart nominations, the Sonora Review What advice would you give Prize, and a MacDowell fellowship. your younger self? All the interests that @louisearonsonsf make you feel different linkedin.com/in/louise-aronson-a70a6358 @LouiseAronson will turn out to be your greatest strengths.
THOUGHTS AND IDEAS:
39 MATT HEPBURN Pandemic Prevention Physician
After retiring from 23 years of service in the United States Army as an infectious diseases physician, Matt Hepburn currently leads an effort for the Department of Defense called Enabling Technologies. Enabling Technologies rapidly develops new vaccines and treatments against future infectious disease challenges. Having dedicated his professional career to addressing the threat of infectious diseases and pandemics, Matt believes this ambitious goal can be accomplished through technology adoption. His deep level understanding for technology adoption for pandemics stems from his six year tenure as a program manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Prior to joining DARPA, Matt served as the Director of Medical Preparedness on the White House National Security Staff. His service in the Army included deployments to Iraq as a hospital Chief Medical Officer and numerous international engagements in establishing public health and clinical research partnerships.
linkedin.com/in/matthew-hepburn-b46617b6
THOUGHTS AND IDEAS:
40 MICHEL MAHARBIZ Extreme Miniaturization Engineer
I find fun new problems to work on.
Berkeley professor and inventor Michel Maharbiz What is the most memorable is a pioneer of using ultrasound for communication book you’ve read? and power, affecting the way our nerves fire with millimeter-scale implantable devices that Everything by Borges. are changing the future of new therapies for disease. His research interests include the extreme When you were younger, miniaturization of technology focused on building what did you want to be synthetic interfaces to cells and organisms. He when you grew up? is known as one of the co-inventors of “neural dust,” an ultrasonic interface for vanishingly A crazy inventor. small implants in the body. He and his colleagues developed the world’s first remotely radio-controlled cyborg beetles, which was named Time magazine’s Top 50 Inventions of 2009.
@ucb_eecs linkedin.com/school/uc-berkeley-eecs @Berkeley_EECS
THOUGHTS AND IDEAS:
41 RALPH NADER Consumer Advocate
I strive for a just society and a just, safe world for posterity.
As an author, lecturer, attorney, and political What’s the most rewarding activist, Ralph Nader’s life-long work and advocacy risk you’ve taken? have enhanced public awareness and increased government and corporate accountability. Ralph’s Editing and writing work has inspired a generation of consumer for the Harvard Law advocates, citizen activists, and public interest Record—time taken lawyers. His analyses and advocacy has led to safer from formal classwork. cars, healthier food, safer drugs, cleaner air and drinking water, and safer work environments. In What’s one thing people 2006, The Atlantic named Ralph one of the one hundred most influential figures in American don’t know about you? history. Time magazine has called him the “U.S.’s I like garlic and onions. toughest customer,” and in 1974, a U.S. News and World Report survey rated Ralph as the fourth most What advice would you give influential person in the United States. Ralph’s your younger self? organizations include the Center for Study of Responsive Law, the Public Interest Research Group Spend time doing lots of (PIRG), the Center for Auto Safety, Public Citizen, different jobs part time to Clean Water Action Project, the Disability Rights learn about the realities Center, the Pension Rights Center, the Project for Corporate Responsibility and The Multinational confronting people. Monitor. His newest project: the American Museum of Tort Law in Winsted, Connecticut is the first law museum in America.
facebook.com/ralphnader @RalphNader
THOUGHTS AND IDEAS:
42 RIITTA IKONEN AND KAROLINE HJORTH Nordic Nature Artists
we allow time management to fly out the window and let serendipity orchestrate productivity.
Driven by curiosity and imagination in their What is the most memorable ongoing collaboration, Norwegian-Finnish book you’ve read? artist duo Karoline Hjorth & Riitta Ikonen have travelled to 14 countries to understand our An African in Greenland relationship with our surroundings. Their series by Tété-Michel Kpomassie Eyes as Big as Plates started out in 2011 studying and The Overstory by the personifications of nature and folkloric Richard Powers. explanations to natural phenomenons in the Nordic countries and has grown to over one hundred What’s one thing people portraits. The work of Karoline and Riitta has been featured worldwide including in the Museum of don’t know about you? Contemporary Arts Kiasma (Finland), The Chimney Despite being the most Gallery NYC, Bogota International Photo Biennale, seasick sergeant in the National Museum of Art, and Seibu Shibuya (Tokyo). Eyes as Big as Plates was nominated for the Paris history of seafarers, Photo-Aperture Foundation Photobook Awards in Karoline has crossed 2017 and won gold for best cover in Årets vakreste the Atlantic twice on a Bøker in 2018. Their collaboration continues with Norwegian tall ship. new works and exhibitions in Senegal, Outer Hebrides and Turkey. Riitta has the balance
eyesasbigasplates.com of a 92-year old. @karoline.hjorth @dashdorn
THOUGHTS AND IDEAS:
43 SANDRO GALEA Wellness Epidemiologist
I can think more clearly, see the stories I need to tell more sharply.
Physician and epidemiologist Sandro Galea has If you had a theme song, spent his career shaping and implementing research what would it be? that improves health outcomes for some of the most vulnerable populations. His latest book, Well: What “Once in a Lifetime,” We Need to Talk About When We Talk About Health, Talking Heads. is a radical examination of the subtle and not-so- subtle factors that determine who gets to be healthy What would the title of your in America. Sandro is Dean and Robert A. Knox memoir be? Professor at Boston University School of Public Health. Prior to his time at Boston University, he Alien like me. held academic and leadership positions at Columbia University, the University of Michigan, and the What’s one thing people New York Academy of Medicine. His work widely don’t know about you? acknowledges social and economic forces at the I am very much an introvert. center of population health. Sandro has led several board organizations and currently serves as Board Chair of the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health. Sandro is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine in addition to having received several lifetime achievement awards for his work.
linkedin.com/in/sandrogalea @sandrogalea facebook.com/galea.sandro
THOUGHTS AND IDEAS:
44 SHEKINAH ELMORE Compassion-Driven Oncologist
joy reveals itself. Even in the oncology clinic.
Dedicated to pursuing equity and empathy in What’s the most rewarding oncology care, Shekinah Elmore is a graduating risk you’ve taken? resident in the Harvard Radiation Oncology Program. She has written about her personal Having a child. experience treading the line between cancer patient and provider in the Journal of the American Medical What’s one thing people Association and the New England Journal of Medicine. don’t know about you? Through her work, Shekinah calls attention to the I’m extremely funny. importance of embracing compassionate care and coping with uncertainty. During her time at Harvard If you had a theme song, Medical School, she received a Fulbright grant to work with Partners in Health in Rwanda to explore what would it be? the patient experience of cancer care. During her “Wait for It”—Hamilton residency, she has focused on understanding and the Musical. improving radiotherapy access in resource-limited settings and promoting pathways for resident involvement in improving global radiotherapy. She has published on these themes in the Journal of Global Oncology and the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, and Physics.
linkedin.com/in/shekinah-elmore @pre-rad @postmd
THOUGHTS AND IDEAS:
45 SUCHI SARIA Machine Learning Scientist
the seemingly impossible problems start to look solvable.
With an interest in Bayesian and probabilistic If you could possess a super modeling approaches, Suchi Saria’s work focuses power what would it be? on addressing the challenges associated with modeling and prediction in complex, real-world To make people instantly temporal systems. Suchi also has a passion for feel safe and loved. addressing challenges related to the use of data- driven tools for decision-making. As Director What advice would you give of the Machine Learning and Healthcare Lab at your younger self? Johns Hopkins University, Suchi and her team are working to enable new classes of diagnostic and That game-changing thing treatment planning tools for healthcare. These that you wish existed, tools are designed to tease out information from what’s stopping you from datasets that will provide reliable inferences for making that happen? individualizing care decisions.
linkedin.com/in/suchisaria @suchisaria
THOUGHTS AND IDEAS:
46 THIJS BIERSTEKER Ecological Artist
I wander on the edges of science and art and find ways to turn the complex into compelling.
Thijs Biersteker creates interactive art What’s the most rewarding installations that turn topics about climate change, risk you’ve taken? deforestation, and the Anthropocene period into relatable experiences rooted in facts and science. Creating a new life with Thijs and his team work together with universities, the love of my life. research groups and companies to weave together humanity, technology and ecology into interactive What would the title of your experiences that create change. His immersive art memoir be? installations are often described as eco-awareness art. By using the latest technologies, Thijs works Mission creative collision: to turn visitors into ocean plastic, to give a voice Together we can put the to nature using data coming from living trees, and change into climate change. to let the rainforest disappear in front of our eyes. Currently, Thijs is affiliated with Delft University of If you could possess a super Technology (NL) where he teaches art, ethics and empathy. Thijs is the recipient of the prestigious power what would it be? Lumen Prize for digital art, was nominated for There is no need for the Stars Prize from Ars Electronica and the New upgrades, our regular Technology Art Award. powers are super if we linkedin.com/in/thijsbiersteker work together... But if I @T_Biersteker had to choose one... @thijs_biersteker Dancing in the rhythm.
THOUGHTS AND IDEAS:
47 THOMAS ABT Violence Reduction Expert
my mind opens up.
Council on Criminal Justice Senior Fellow, What is the most memorable Thomas Abt is a leading expert on reducing urban book you’ve read? violence. In his book Bleeding Out: The Devastating Consequences of Urban Violence—and a Bold New Ghettoside. Plan for Peace in the Streets, he explores evidence- informed, cost-effective approaches to reduce high What’s the most rewarding rates of violence all rooted in a ‘series of smart- risk you’ve taken? on-crime strategies’ independent of large budgets Joining the Obama or new laws. Thomas served as Deputy Secretary for Public Safety to Governor Andrew Cuomo in campaign. New York, where he oversaw all criminal justice and homeland security agencies while leading the When you were younger, development of New York’s GIVE (Gun-Involved what did you want to be Violence Elimination) Initiative. Thomas also served when you grew up? as Chief of Staff to the Office of Justice Programs at the US Department of Justice. He played a lead A civil rights lawyer. role in establishing the National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention, a network of federal agencies and local communities working together to reduce youth and gang violence. Thomas is a founding member of the Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative, a place-based development effort that was recognized by the Kennedy School as one of the Top 25 Innovations in Government for 2013.
@Abt_Thomas
THOUGHTS AND IDEAS:
48 WANDA IRVING Maternal Care Reformer
I let go of fear and “what if’s.” I can feel my energy and creativity and am able to visualize the possibilities within my reach.
Wanda Irving envisions a health care system What’s one thing people where no individual is excluded. Early in her career, don’t know about you? Wanda developed a passion for leading community betterment and social change initiatives. She spent I was the only Black girl in nearly three decades working in federal and local my high school. government, faith-based organizations, and in the non-profit arena where she focused her expertise If you could possess a super to impact effective leadership development and power what would it be? meaningful engagement as a strategy to achieve resourceful solutions to complex community issues. The ability to turn back time. After the untimely death of her daughter, Shalon Irving, following the birth of her own daughter, What advice would you give Wanda devoted her life’s work to bringing attention your younger self? to health equity and racial equality. Wanda is Never take anything or currently developing a nonprofit to honor her daughter’s work, all while raising her 2 year old anyone for granted. granddaughter, Soleil.
linkedin.com/in/wanda-irving-mpa-7362a619
THOUGHTS AND IDEAS:
49 YASMIN HURD CBD Scientist
I guide the development of unconventional strategies for treating addiction and related neuropsychiatric disorders.
Internationally renowned neuroscientist Yasmin What’s one thing people Hurd’s ground-breaking cannabidiol studies are don’t know about you? leading the development of potential treatment for opioid addiction and other disorders. She That’s why no one knows it. uses multidisciplinary research approaches to highlight the complex neurobiological mechanisms What advice would you give underlying addiction vulnerability. Her work your younger self? includes the study of epigenetic disturbances as key Stop being hard on contributions to the long-term impact of drugs on both the brain and behavior-enhancing psychiatric yourself. The challenges vulnerability. Her work studying the human brain and missteps all take you to and complementary translational animal models the path that you are meant flourishes at the intersection of molecular biology, to be on. Enjoy the journey. behavioral neuropharmacology, neuroimaging, and genetics. At the Icahn School of Medicine What is the most memorable in New York, Yasmin is a Professor of Psychiatry, Neuroscience and Pharmacological Sciences and the book you’ve read? Ward-Coleman Chair in Translational Neuroscience. The Alchemist. Yasmin directs the Addiction Institute in the Mount Sinai Behavioral Health System, covering one of the largest addiction populations in the US. Yasmin is a National Academy of Medicine inductee.
linkedin.com/in/yasmin-hurd-4a4b424 @HurdLab @SinaiBrain
THOUGHTS AND IDEAS:
50 ZUBEROA MARCOS Scientific Storyteller
life becomes more joyful.
With a strong belief in the power of science, What’s the most rewarding technology, education, and storytelling, Zuberoa risk you’ve taken? Marcos has set out to change the world. An award- winning producer and director, Zuberoa also holds a Leaving my career in doctorate in molecular biology. She has an emphatic Academia for one in Media. passion for capturing extraordinary global stories that illustrate the complexity of our planet and What advice would you give the latest scientific advances. Among her highly your younger self? successful documentaries and TV shows, her 2015 documentary series, “Roman Engineering,” won Stop making yourself small the coveted Bronze World Medal at the New York and trust your intuition. Festivals TV & Film Awards. Before her career in media, Zuberoa was a scientist doing research in the field of molecular biology.
@zuberoamarcos @ZuberoaMarcos zuberoamarcos.com
THOUGHTS AND IDEAS:
51 Notes:
52 INNOVATORS
Innovators
Innovation in any industry requires an audacious disposition and the courage to boldly push beyond tradition toward a healthier future. In order to innovate, one must allow themselves to embrace wonder. When Innovators “Make Way For Wonder” they yield groundbreaking discoveries that fundamentally reshape our world.
The Hive Program is where we focus TEDMED’s “hive mind,” a hotbed of new ideas where people, innovations, concepts, and provocative questions collide, mix, merge, bounce off each other, and inspire future iterations and groundbreaking new insights. The Hive Innovators are the catalysts, sparking new ideas in policy, technology, education, design, and medical practices. As always, this year’s Hive class is made of innovators representing mid- to late-stage organizations, well-positioned to achieve velocity across six critical categories:
1) Life Sciences & Therapeutics 2) Med-Tech & Med-Device 3) Mobile & Digital Health 4) Health Systems, Care Delivery, and Reimbursement Models 5) Advancing Science 6) Public Health
This year’s Innovators will participate in an interactive onsite experience powered by TBWA\WorldHealth. With an awe-inspiring experience that invokes wonder, delegates have the opportunity to explore the power of asking “What if?” in fields from AI-driven mental health care, to novel drug discovery and development, to new models of human and animal genomics, and much more.
Be sure to to add meeting the Hive Innovators at the top of your TEDMED “to-do” list. Stop by the Innovator’s Lounge to learn about the impactful work they’re doing, ask questions, and offer advice on how to best scale the solutions they’re exploring.
Prepare to be provoked, informed, and inspired!
53 TEDMED Scout: Your AR Guide to Innovation
TEDMED 2020 calls us to “Make Way For Wonder,” and each year TEDMED’s Hive Program showcases the power of wonder at work in health and medicine. The Hive Program brings together a group of Innovators, whose sense of wonder drove them to ask “What If?” This question guided them to build tangible, far- reaching solutions to pressing issues across healthcare. Embracing this year’s theme, TEDMED joined forces with TBWA\WorldHealth to curate an experience that celebrates innovation and unlocks our sense of wonder.
The experience designed to showcase this year’s class of Innovators leverages Augmented Reality. We’re calling the experience TEDMED Scout: Your AR Guide to Innovation. TEDMED Scout inspires our sense of curiosity and wonder by bringing to life the ideas each innovator represents. And, a virtual concierge guides onsite networking connections between Innovators and our community like never before.
Across the event, Delegates will engage with TEDMED Scout through their cell phones by pointing their phones at physical objects (i.e. “markers”) that reveal the virtual experience. An example of one marker is seen below. A virtual concierge, Scout, will walk Delegates through the Hive Program—pairing them with Innovators that align with their interests. Delegates will have an opportunity to read about the Innovator, hear the Innovator’s story, watch a short video about the idea that powers their innovation, and contact them to meet onsite. And, this experience will live on following TEDMED 2020 through a digital marker that will be shared online and via social media. This will provide anyone in the world with access to the 2020 TEDMED Hive Innovators and this state of the art Augmented Reality experience.
Scan the QR code with your phone or tablet to activate TEDMED Scout: Your AR Guide to Innovation.
54 Innovators
everyone in the world had access to the right diagnosis and the roadmap What if to cure their disease?
Andrew Beck earned his MD PathAI is a leading provider from Brown Medical School and of AI-powered research tools completed residency and fellowship and services for pathology. training in Anatomic Pathology and PathAI’s platform promises Molecular Genetic Pathology from substantial improvements to Stanford University. He completed a the accuracy of diagnosis and PhD in Biomedical Informatics from the efficacy of treatment of Stanford University, where he developed one of the first diseases like cancer, leveraging machine-learning based systems for cancer pathology. modern approaches in machine He’s been certified by the American Board of Pathology and deep learning. Based in in Anatomic Pathology and Molecular Genetic Boston, PathAI works with Pathology. Prior to co-founding PathAI, he was on the leading life sciences companies faculty of Harvard Medical School in the Department and researchers to advance of Pathology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. precision medicine. He has published over 110 papers in the fields of cancer biology, cancer pathology, and biomedical informatics.
What is the story behind the central idea that inspired the creation of your organization/company? PathAI was created to use AI-powered pathology to advance drug development and to build diagnostics to identify patients with serious diseases that will benefit from new therapies.
What’s the most inventive, innovative, or disruptive aspect of your initiative? Our mission of applying AI-powered pathology to advance drug development with the goal of improving outcomes for patients with serious diseases.
If you had a theme song, what would it be and why? “Dark Star.”
@andybeck @path_ai pathai.com
55 Innovators
you could immediately morph into a What if doctor the next time you got sick?
Andrew Le is the CEO and Co- Buoy Health is an AI-driven Founder of Buoy Health. He received digital assistant that helps his undergraduate degree in patients self-diagnose and Economics from Harvard University triage to the appropriate care. and his Doctor of Medicine from By leveraging AI, Buoy provides Harvard Medical School. consumers with a real-time, accurate analysis of their What is the story behind the central idea that symptoms, acts as a first line of inspired the creation of your organization/company? care, and helps users get better. I was in my last year of Harvard Medical School with a goal to become a neurosurgeon, when I had my first ER rotation. I was surprised how many people who should have stayed home were coming in; worse, people who were especially sick were waiting at home getting worse.
What single word or phrase best describes the culture of your startup and why? Thoughtful—every single Crew member is passionate about making a difference in healthcare, and each of us has the other’s best interests at heart as we work towards our mission.
@Andrew_Q_Le @buoyhealth buoyhealth.com
56 Innovators
personalized technology could ensure that no one is held back What if by mental illness?
Andy Blackwell is a scientist and Eight Billion Minds is healthcare technology entrepreneur developing new technology who believes that the data in our to deliver accessible and healthcare systems will fuel the personalised psychological discovery of a new generation of therapy on a global scale. treatments and eradicate “trial By applying deep learning and error” from medicine. This and clinical data science to year he launched “8 Billion Minds,” a groundbreaking hundreds of thousands of technology programme using deep learning to decode hours of real-world therapy and democratise the treatment of conditions affecting data, Eight Billion Minds mental health. Andy trained in cognitive neuroscience is determining what really and psychology at the University of St. Andrews and the works to help patients get University of Cambridge and has worked extensively better. Eight Billion Minds is with neuroscience labs and major pharma, biotech and a research and development medical devices companies around the world. Andy is program of Ieso Digital Health, Group Chief Science and Strategy Officer at Ieso Digital the UK’s largest provider of Health in Cambridge, UK. online mental healthcare. What is the story behind the central idea that inspired the creation of your organization/company? Due to a global scarcity of therapists, the 1:1 therapy model faces limitations, with millions of people worldwide unable to access mental health treatment. Care quality and patient outcomes are often left unmeasured, with the therapy being delivered only as good as the individual therapist delivering the care. Eight Billion Minds is addressing these issues and changing the future of how therapy is delivered around the world by using deep learning and data science, applied to its own unique data set, to understand what aspects of therapy really work.
@8bminds 8bminds.com
57 Innovators
guessing had no place in mental healthcare, and we went from what What if might work to what will?
April Koh is the CEO and founder Spring Health leverages of Spring Health, a comprehensive data to bring clarity to mental mental health benefit for modern healthcare—from early employers. Prior to starting Spring, detection, to full recovery and April served as Chief Product Officer beyond. We’ve pioneered a new at Spylight and Product Manager at approach—Precision Mental Shazam. April has received honors Healthcare—that leverages data from the American Psychiatric Association and Harvard to identify the right treatment Innovation Lab, and has been featured in Crain’s, Wall option for the right person at the Street Journal, and National Quality Forum. April Koh was right time, and predict what is named Forbes 30 Under 30 2018 in Consumer Technology, most likely to help them recover. a Goldman Sachs 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs in The Spring Health solution 2019, and is a Yale Entrepreneurial Institute fellow. has led to 2X higher recovery rates, shorter recovery times by What is the story behind the central idea that up to eight weeks, and lower inspired the creation of your organization/company? healthcare costs. Our approach Today, one in five Americans experience a diagnosable was recently recognized by mental illness, yet 84% aren’t getting the care they need. the World Economic Forum Unfortunately, traditional mental health solutions and endorsed by the American were not built to acknowledge the unique needs of each Psychiatric Association, and is person. This results in a terrible experience, as patients used by Fortune 500 companies must test multiple treatment and provider options to like Gap and Whole Foods as find the right fit. well as high-growth technology companies like Box, Equinox, What’s the most inventive, innovative, or disruptive and Banfield Pet Hospital. aspect of your initiative? Spring Health cuts through the noise with Precision Mental Healthcare: its clinically-proven approach uses data to get each person the right care at the right time, across the entire spectrum of mental health. Through smart triage paired with a premium network of highly accessible providers, we help employers ensure their employees feel better, faster.
@aprilkoh_ @spring_health springhealth.com
58 Innovators
personalized healthcare was What if accessible for everyone?
Claire Novorol is Chief Medical Ada Health is a global health Officer and Co-Founder of Ada company founded by doctors, Health. Prior to founding Ada, scientists, and industry pioneers Claire worked as a Pediatrician to create new possibilities for within the NHS before specializing personal health. Ada’s core in Clinical Genetics. She has system connects medical degrees in Pathology and Medicine, knowledge with intelligent along with a PhD in Neuroscience from University of technology to help all people Cambridge. Claire is the founder of Doctorpreneurs, actively manage their health a global community for healthcare professionals and medical professionals interested in innovation. She is an Advisory Team to deliver effective care. Ada Steering Member for the AHSN Network Community is proud to collaborate with for Artificial Intelligence, an Entrepreneurship Expert leading health systems and with the University of Oxford Saïd Business School’s global non-profit organizations Entrepreneurship Centre, and a member of the UK to carry out this vision. The #1 Digital Health Council. In 2018, Claire was featured on medical app in 140 countries, Business Insider’s Tech 100 and Forbes’ Europe’s Top 50 15 million assessments have Women in Tech. She is a regular contributor to Forbes. been completed since its global launch in 2016. What is the story behind the central idea that inspired the creation of your organization/company? I was inspired to launch Ada with my two co-founders, Daniel Nathrath (CEO) and Martin Hirsch (CTO) during my career as an NHS doctor. On my first day as an NHS geneticist, I met a child whose symptoms matched no known disease despite having seen doctors for over a year. By trawling medical databases and case studies, I found a test which led to a diagnosis of a disease so rare that naming it could identify the patient. We are rigorous in our approach to medical knowledge at Ada, and have worked tirelessly to build an extensive medical knowledge base covering thousands of conditions and symptoms.
What single word or phrase best describes the culture of your startup and why? Collaboration—we are committed to ensuring that the Ada team is as diverse as possible, made up of doctors,
@clairenovorol engineers, scientists, and industry pioneers with a broad @adahealth range of expertise. ada.com
59 Innovators
we can query the body instead of a biological sample to intercept What if early disease?
Gabe Kwong is co-founder of Glympse Bio was built by Glympse Bio, which is developing a team that is pioneering a powerful new paradigm in miniaturized biological sensors. diagnostics to enable noninvasive Using breakthroughs in science, and predictive monitoring of engineering, medicine and multiple human diseases. He is an artificial intelligence—the Assistant Professor of Biomedical sensors are designed to be Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory, and directs deployed inside the body a research laboratory focused on developing immune and query target organs for technologies to sense, treat, and cure human disease. His indicators of disease activity. In work has been published in leading scientific journals many of today’s most common and featured in The Economist, NPR, BBC, and Boston’s and serious diseases, few PBS station. Gabe earned his B.S. with Highest Honors biological markers have been from UC Berkeley, his Ph.D. from Caltech, and conducted identified that can reliably postdoctoral studies at MIT. Gabe has been honored detect early disease or track with the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award, the response to treatment. Our NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, and holds 20+ mission is to build a future issued or pending patents in biomedical technology. where disease is intercepted earlier, better therapies are What’s the most inventive, innovative, or disruptive developed faster, people don’t aspect of your initiative? become patients and patients Physicians continue to lack reliable indicators of disease are returned to health. to help guide clinical decisions. This absence is due to fundamental limitations in disease biology—not from lack of interest or effort by the research community. Our disruptive approach is to not rely on Nature, but to engineer our own disease indicators. This approach not only solves current challenges, but allows us to gain deep insights such as how patients respond and develop resistance to treatments.
If you had a theme song, what would it be and why? The Disney theme song “It’s a Small World.” Surprised? If you take it literally, we marvel at the possibilities when science occurs at a small scale. At Glympse Bio, we are miniaturizing biological sensors to glimpse inside the body—building a bigger and better future
@gabekwong for patients everywhere. @glympsebio glympsebio.com
60 Innovators
we put women and families at the What if center of the healthcare system?
Jane van Dis is a board-certified Maven Clinic is the leading obstetrician/gynecologist and women’s and family healthcare works as an OB Hospitalist in company, disrupting how the La Cañada CA. Jane was an early market and employers are adopter of telehealth and now serves approaching healthcare for as Medical Director at Maven, a working families. By offering telehealth solution for women and high-tech and high-touch families. She is co-founder of both TIMES UP Healthcare support through Maven’s and Equity Quotient—a gender and race equity award-winning platform, global consulting company for healthcare. Jane graduated from companies are able to attract the University of South Dakota School of Medicine and and retain talent while improving completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at the health and economic UCLA. She is a single mom to twins, Brooklyn and Miles. outcomes of their employees. Named one of Fast Company’s What is the story behind the central idea that “10 Most Innovative Healthcare inspired the creation of your organization/company? Companies,” Maven advances Where are the healthcare companies for women? women’s health, family planning, Founder and CEO Kate Ryder was investing in healthcare and diversity in the workforce technology and wondered why no one was addressing by empowering parents to plan the needs of women and families. As friends told her or start a family while growing stories of miscarriages and infertility, and she began to their careers. Maven’s custom plan her own family, the need became more urgent and programs support every path personal. In 2014, Maven was founded with the vision to parenthood including: egg to empower women and families to take care and take freezing, fertility, pregnancy, on the world by offering high-quality healthcare on- postpartum, pediatrics, demand and modern family benefits for all. adoption, surrogacy, return-to- work, breast milk shipping, and If you had a theme song, what would it be and why? reimbursement management. “Let’s Give Them Something to Talk About.” Founded in 2014 by Katherine Ryder, Maven has raised more than $42MM.
@janevandis @mavenclinic mavenclinic.com
61 Innovators
no one ever had to lose a limb What if due to diabetes?
Jonathan Bloom is a board- Podimetrics is a care certified physician and entrepreneur management company with the with over 15 years of experience leading solution to help prevent in technology development, diabetic foot ulcers (DFU), patient monitoring, biomedical one of the most debilitating research, and health care delivery. and costly complications of He is the chief executive officer of diabetes. On behalf of payers Podimetrics, a care management company with the and at-risk providers, we send leading solution to help prevent diabetic foot ulcers, high-risk patients our FDA- one of the most debilitating and costly complications cleared, cellular-connected of diabetes. Jonathan previously served as a Clinical SmartMat. After placing Assistant Professor and staff anesthesiologist at The their feet on the mat for 20 University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He also served seconds a day, patients’ data as the Director of Global Medical Affairs for Covidien’s are automatically sent to our Respiratory and Monitoring Solutions division in care management team that Boulder, Colorado. He is a diplomate of the American helps address any concerning Board of Anesthesiology and has co-authored more than findings. Combining cutting- 20 peer-reviewed publications with a focus on health edge technology with best- care economics and perioperative complications. in-class care management, Podimetrics earns high What’s the most inventive, innovative, or disruptive engagement rates from patients aspect of your initiative? and allows clinicians to achieve Podimetrics allows patients to effectively monitor their unparalleled outcomes saving feet by simply stepping on the SmartMat. They can even limbs, lives, and money. use it sitting down. This represents a huge improvement Founded in 2011 by a physician over older solutions that required patients, many of and engineers from MIT whom are wheelchair bound or cannot see, to manually and Harvard, Podimetrics is take temperature readings on various parts of their feet headquartered in Somerville, and seek further help on their own. MA and backed by Norwich Ventures, Scientific Health If you had a theme song, what would it be and why? Development, and Rock Health. “Get On Your Feet”—Gloria Estefan. Just as the song carries an inspiring message about regaining one’s spirit after adversity and living life to the fullest, the mission of Podimetrics is to allow people to do the same, continue their lives without having to deal with the implications of a DFU. Using Podimetrics can help at-risk patients get
@JonBloomMD (and stay) on their feet and live a full, active life. @podimetrics podimetrics.com
62 Innovators
we could harness animal superpowers to cure our What if worst diseases?
Katharine Grabek is a co-founder Fauna Bio is pushing beyond of Fauna Bio, a biotech company the classic mouse model to in Berkeley, CA, that is focused develop a cross-mammal drug on translating discoveries from discovery platform that takes animal genomics into human advantage of 100 million years therapies. Katharine’s doctoral and of evolution. post-doctoral research focused on understanding the evolutionary and genetic mechanisms that underlie mammalian hibernation. She utilized proteomic, transcriptomic and genomic approaches to link the 13-lined ground squirrel’s genome to phenome. She received her PhD in human medical genetics at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, where she completed her thesis research on hibernation in Dr. Sandy Martin’s lab. Before founding Fauna Bio, Katharine completed her postdoctoral training in Dr. Carlos Bustamante’s lab in the Department of Biomedical Data Science at Stanford University.
What is the story behind the central idea that inspired the creation of your organization/company? The central idea is that there are animals who exhibit “superhero” capabilities; over the course of their evolution, they’ve naturally solved a number of human biomedical problems. The elephant’s resistance to cancer is a popular example of an animal adaptation that promotes health and longevity. Hibernating mammals begin to develop conditions similar to heart attack, stroke, diabetes, osteoporosis, and Alzheimer’s disease, but unlike humans, they are able to protect themselves from damage, or even subsequently cure themselves of these illnesses. Currently, thousands of humans are being sequenced, but other mammal species remain an untapped reservoir of information that could be used to inspire therapeutic discovery.
If you had a theme song, what would it be and why?
@krgrabek “Eye of the Tiger”; it reflects our determination and we @faunabio love power songs with animals in them. faunabio.com
63 Innovators
every human had access to the best What if medical expertise in the world?
Kevin Quennesson, Co-Founder Braid.Health is a digital health and CEO, is a serial entrepreneur innovation company focused on whose goal at Braid.Health is to the development and delivery give every patient worldwide access of an AI-powered diagnostic to the best diagnosis, instantly collaboration platform for and seamlessly. Previously, Kevin radiology and the healthcare was at Twitter where he built industry. Braid.Health’s first the Cortex group—a centralized AI group supporting solution, an AI-powered end- efforts across the company. He previously founded to-end teleradiology brings Everpix, a consumer photo startup, and built and patients instant, reliable access sold an ad company within Cooliris. His career began to medical care from board at Apple, where he built the first iPhone app and certified radiologists. We believe foundational tools for iPhones and iPads. Kevin holds everyone deserves access to nine patents, is published in conferences worldwide the best medical expertise, from AI to mathematics, exhibited photography & regardless of where they live, video art, directed theatre plays worldwide and sits how much money they have, on the board of two non-profits. He studied Applied or what they know—access to Mathematics, Computer Science and Philosophy at medical expertise should be École Polytechnique in France, Stanford University universal. Headquartered in San and Georgia Tech. Francisco, CA, the company was founded in 2018 by Kevin If you had a theme song, what would it be and why? Quennesson and Alessandro “With a little help from my friends” by the Beatles. Sabatelli, developers behind the At Braid.Health, we put the consumer at the center of Apple Watch, iPhone and Siri. the healthcare experience and promote greater and The company is backed by Lux more timely collaboration among providers. By making Capital and other prominent people our priority, we hope to radically transform the investors including former healthcare industry from the currently outdated and Twitter CEO and COO Dick frustrating system into one that is more well-connected Costolo and Adam Bain. and secure. These connections are needed most at the edges of the healthcare system, not only in rural areas, but also in clinics within major metropolitan areas. As is often the case, you only get one chance to diagnose early and this requires expert and timely care.
@qevni @braidhealth braid.health.com
64 Innovators
the healthcare system could deliver personalized experiences that rival What if Pinterest and Netflix?
Leah Sparks, CEO & Founder of Wildflower Health empowers Wildflower Health, has over 15 years women and their families experience building innovative to confidently navigate and healthcare businesses in both access the care they need, venture-backed companies and when they need it. By deeply Fortune 50 corporations. Leah integrating our technology into founded Wildflower in 2012 while healthcare and personalizing starting a family of her own and seeing firsthand the the user experience, we help gaps in healthcare for consumers. Prior to starting the entire healthcare ecosystem Wildflower, Leah led business development for a meet the expectations of personalized medicine startup that was acquired by today’s consumer, driving Medco. She began her career in healthcare at McKesson a meaningful impact on Corporation in corporate development, focusing on health for entire families. strategy and M&A. During her tenure at McKesson, she held various leadership roles, including spearheading the company’s entry into the oncology market. Leah has been featured as a speaker at leading events including the National Quality Forum, Health 2.0, and the Rock Health Summit.
What is the story behind the central idea that inspired the creation of your organization/company? As I tried to navigate the health system while starting a family of my own, I discovered that new tools were needed to empower the Chief Health Officer of the Home, which is often “Mom,” to manage the health for the family. Wildflower is committed to dramatically changing the way healthcare works for individuals, creating personalized journeys that feel much more like using Pinterest or Netflix than interfacing with the traditional healthcare system.
What single word or phrase best describes the culture of your startup and why? Our culture is centered on “Purposeful Persistence.” Our team puts the higher goal of improving health for women and families ahead of their own agendas, and
@leah_e_sparks works hard every day to make the crucial steps ahead for @wildflowerhlth our users and clients. wildflowerhealth.com
65 Innovators
we made cervical cancer screenings accessible at What if homes, or in communities?
Mercy Asiedu is a co-founder Calla Health Foundation of Calla Health Foundation. She was borne out of the Center received her PhD from Duke for Global Women’s Health University Biomedical Engineering, Technologies at Duke with Dr. Nimmi Ramanujam. While University. Their technology, at Duke, she invented the Callascope, the Callascope, employs low- a device that reimagines the current light imaging technology to gynecological exam and provides women with more visualize the inner vagina and autonomy over the exam, by enabling speculum-free, cervix, enabling people with a self-imaging of the cervix. This has been validated in cervix to comfortably explore clinical studies and has won several awards including their own inner reproductive the Lemelson-MIT Graduate Student Inventor Award, anatomy in the privacy of Duke Health Innovation Shark Tank, and the Cisco Global their homes. The Callascope Problem Solver Challenge. She is currently a Schmidt is low-cost, portable, and Science Postdoctoral Research Fellow at MIT CSAIL, and connects to a mobile device or MGH-Harvard CURT, developing machine-learning tools a tablet, replacing the traditional for improved medical imaging. After the fellowship she speculum exam that uses an hopes to work at Calla Health Technologies to continue expensive colposcope which developing solutions to bridge healthcare disparities. acts as a barrier to healthcare in low resourced settings. What’s the most inventive, innovative, or disruptive Moreover, the Callascope aspect of your initiative? employs a decision-making The Pocket Colposcope and Callascope have the form algorithm that can detect factor of a tampon. Rather than visualizing the cervix precancerous symptoms in the from outside the speculum (which colposcopes do), they cervix. Through technological can be inserted into the vagina to visualize the cervix. innovation, the Callascope The proximity to the cervix (3cm vs 30cm) enables less disrupts barriers to healthcare, expensive optical components at comparable image offering an alternative for quality to a state-of-the-art digital colposcope. It is people with a cervix to take >100X lighter than a clinical colposcope and about 10X charge of their own health. less expensive. The Callascope has an introducer for expanding the vaginal walls without the speculum, a device that has been the standard in gynecology for 150 years; and allows for manipulating, centering and imaging the cervix, either by a health provider or by the patients themselves.
@nyamewaa27 If you had a theme song, what would it be and why? thecallacampaign.com/technology “Run the World”—Beyoncé, “Flawless”—Beyoncé, “Most Girls”—Hailee Steinfeld.
66 Innovators
patients had the power to jumpstart drug research for What if their own conditions?
Nancy Yu has always found herself RDMD’s mission is to empower at the intersection of scientific patients and communities to research and bringing new science accelerate the development of to the market. She sees a world treatments for rare diseases where patients and drug developers of all kinds. RDMD makes it can be brought closer together, easy for patients and families as their interests in realizing new to participate in drug research drug treatments are most directly aligned. Previous from home. to starting RDMD, she led Corporate Development and Special Projects at 23andme, worked closely with consumer healthcare companies at HIG Capital, and was a biotech investment banker on Wall Street before that. Nancy holds a dual degree in biology and finance from the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton School of Business.
What is the story behind the central idea that inspired the creation of your organization/company? Onno Faber (cofounder) and I started RDMD because Onno himself was diagnosed with a rare disease called NF2. In his thirties, Onno lost hearing on one side and discovered multiple tumors in his central nervous system. He also learned that there were no approved drug treatments in NF2, and his doctor told him to “Google” the condition. We saw the pressing need to build a platform to serve the most critical needs of patients and drug researchers.
What single word or phrase best describes the culture of your startup and why? Curiosity. Our origin story started with a curiosity for why things are the way they are. Sure, we get frustrated when things don’t work out, or when we see things go more slowly than we’d like, but maintaining a curious perspective amidst it all helps us continuously make strides forward.
@nancyyu25 @rdmd rdmd.com
67 Innovators
we could understand the invisible What if microbial world around us?
Niamh O’Hara has developed Biotia leverages genomics cutting edge next-gen sequencing- and AI to provide diagnostic based technology for hospitals and insights. Current infectious spent five years commercializing disease diagnostic tools are this technology, through co- failing us. Culturing, the current founding and leading Biotia. She has gold standard and technology conducted unprecedented, large- from the 1800s, misses many scale metagenomics studies including characterizing important pathogens and the microbiome of ambulances across the US, hospital requires many labor intensive environments internationally, and clinical studies on tests. Newer PCR-based tests patient samples. She completed a postdoc in healthtech are limited, problematic and business at Cornell Tech, a postdoc at Fordham don’t provide drug resistance University in Bioinformatics, a PhD in Ecology and information. The result is Evolutionary Biology at Stony Brook University, and high levels of mortality and a BA at NYU. Niamh has published peer-reviewed drug resistance. At Biotia, we articles in the fields of metagenomics, genomics, fight infectious disease and evolutionary biology and ecology in top ranked drug resistance using rapid journals such as Molecular Ecology, Microbiome, and precision diagnostics. We work Evolution. Her work has been featured in GenomeWeb, with hospitals internationally, Popular Science, the Huffington Post, and WIRED. leveraging next-generation DNA sequencing, and our artificial What is the story behind the central idea that intelligence software to guide inspired the creation of your organization/company? patient treatment and save lives. We experienced firsthand, the chasm between how hospitals identify pathogens versus the tools we were using every day in academia, and we decided to bridge that divide.
What’s the most inventive, innovative, or disruptive aspect of your initiative? We are using AI to make sense of DNA collected from patients and the environment to identify and control infectious disease.
What single word or phrase best describes the culture of your startup and why? Translational, because we are working hard to bring cutting edge metagenomic technology to hospitals to @niamh_oh improve patient care. @biotianyc biotia.io
68 Innovators
we could replace the molecule What if with the algorithm?
Peter Hames is co-founder and Big Health’s purpose is to help CEO of Big Health, a company millions back to good mental creating “digital medicine”—fully health using digital therapeutics automated, software-based cognitive —fully automated behavioral and behavioral techniques that programs backed by world class are backed by clinical evidence. scientific evidence. Big Health’s Peter is an NHS Innovation Fellow, lead products are Sleepio™ for and holds a Masters in Experimental Psychology helping individuals address poor from Oxford University. It was his own experience of sleep and Daylight™ for helping insomnia, and how he overcame it, that inspired him individuals address worry and to found Big Health and create Sleepio, a digital sleep anxiety. Designed by leading improvement program that is currently available to clinical experts, Big Health’s over 12 million people through partnerships with US solutions are based on cognitive employers and the UK’s National Health Service (NHS). and behavioral techniques and have been evaluated in 33 peer- What is the story behind the central idea that reviewed research publications, inspired the creation of your organization/company? including 10 randomized I developed insomnia completely out of the blue. Having controlled trials. With offices in studied Experimental Psychology at Oxford University, London and San Francisco, Big I was familiar with effective, non-drug alternatives to Health’s products are available treating insomnia and self-administered a course of through multinational employers Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) from a self-help book. and major health plans, covering Within weeks I was cured! Inspired by the experience, I over 12 million people. contacted the author of the book, Professor Colin Espie. Together, we founded Big Health—and in turn, its first product for helping address poor sleep: Sleepio.
What single word or phrase best describes the culture of your startup and why? The tenacity to move mountains. It takes unbelievable grit, resilience and plain old hard work to achieve the apparently impossible. And we’re willing to do the hard yards to transform healthcare. Even when it feels like walking over hot coals. Or pulling teeth. Or any other painful metaphor you can dream up. Because nothing worth achieving is easy.
@phames bighealth.com
69 Innovators
we could produce a deep relaxation What if in anyone at anytime, anywhere?
Richard Hanbury is the founder Sana Health is a of Sana Health; a neuromodulation neuromodulation wearable for platform for pain relief and deep the control of chronic pain, relaxation. Richard developed the addiction and anxiety. Sana technology behind Sana to eradicate uses audio/visual stimulation his own life-threatening pain to guide the user into a state of problem following a spinal cord deep relaxation in 10 minutes, injury from a jeep crash near Sana in Yemen in 1992. this also consistently increases Richard has an MBA (Healthcare) from the Wharton neuroplasticity—dramatically School, and DipLaw (College of Law London). The impacting base pain, fatigue, original benchtop device removed all his nerve damage depression and anxiety levels pain in 3 months, saving his life. He has spent 25 years over time. With the recent wins developing the Sana technology from the original at UCSF Digital Health Awards benchtop device to the current device undergoing and NATO Innovation Summit, clinical trials. Clinical trials have just been completed Sana is getting recognition in Opioid Use Disorder and Fibromyalgia. Sana is which points to the need for launching in Fibromyalgia in 2020. clinically proven alternatives to pharmacological solutions What’s the most inventive, innovative, or disruptive in the neurosphere. Pain, aspect of your initiative? addiction and anxiety are The use of light and sound for neuromodulation allows for widespread problems that repairing the hemispheric imbalance which is a critical Sana hopes to play a major part to chronic pain and anxiety conditions. Ability to role in helping alleviate— personalise medicine for each person, on each use. starting with Fibromyalgia. What single word or phrase best describes the culture of your startup and why? SANA- in Latin means heal or healthy in Arabic means brightness or radiance (we are a light based tech) in Spanish means essentially I invite you to heal in Serbian means dream
If you had a theme song, what would it be and why? Rocky—“Eye Of The Tiger.” I have been at this 27 years, from saving my own life to getting to the point where we can help thousands and then hopefully millions has @rhanbury been quite an epic struggle. @sana_health sana.io
70 Innovators
kids were the authors of their What if own health journeys?
Sunny Williams wants to live in Tiny Docs makes Health a world where more people follow Caretoons—animated cartoons a passion-driven life, Shark Week that teach kids about their is twice a year and he can grow an health in a fun, relatable, award-winning, hirsute beard. In the and easy-to-understand past, he has been an English teacher way. Our content library in Spain, producer of a couple of covers medical procedures, short films, and an associate attorney at a big law firm. chronic health conditions, Sunny found his true passion when he founded Tiny and general wellness. Every Docs, a multimedia platform that educates kids and Tiny Docs video is vetted by families about health. Every day he gets up motivated to our board of pediatricians, help kids and families get access to health information child life specialists, and in an easy to understand language. When he’s not nurses to ensure all of the running Tiny Docs, he is taking improv classes, training information is medically for the next marathon and/or learning the fine art of accurate and beneficial. making balloon animals.
What is the story behind the central idea that inspired the creation of your organization/company? When I was a child, I spent a fair amount of time in the ER. I didn’t have a chronic illness; I was just clumsy. Many times someone would hand me a medical brochure to help me understand my health challenge or surgical procedure. At the time, the medical brochure wasn’t useful. It wasn’t written in a language that I could understand. I wish that I had a resource to help me understand my healthcare journey. Later, I wondered: what if we created a cast of characters and stories to help kids and families understand health? That’s when Tiny Docs was born.
What single word or phrase best describes the culture of your startup and why? Collaborative. We share ideas, support each other and dream big together. We work with a passionate group of artists, storytellers, children’s media specialists, and medical professionals to create trustworthy and
@snnywilliams fun caretoons. @tinydocs tinydocs.co
71 Innovators
human service providers were at the same level of priority as What if healthcare providers?
Taylor Justice, U.S. Army veteran, Unite Us is a technology graduated from the United States company that builds Military Academy at West Point coordinated care networks in 2006. He was commissioned of health and human service as a Second Lieutenant in the providers. With Unite Us, US Army as an Infantry Officer providers across sectors and later received an honorable can send and receive secure medical discharge from active duty. An entrepreneur referrals, track every person’s at heart, in 2009 Taylor co-founded HigherEchelon, total health journey, and report Inc., a government consulting company. Taylor then on tangible outcomes across co-founded Unite Us in 2013 while enrolled at Columbia a full range of services in a Business School, where he earned his MBA in 2014. centralized, cohesive, and Taylor is leading Unite Us on its mission to launch collaborative ecosystem. Unite coordinated care networks across all 50 states. Driven Us’ dedicated team builds by the belief that health begins in communities, Taylor authentic, lasting partnerships advocates for national infrastructure that connects to ensure their networks have health and human service providers: a public utility to a solid foundation, launch better support those in need. successfully, and continue to grow and thrive. This What single word or phrase best describes the social infrastructure helps culture of your startup and why? communities transform their We have four core values that drive everything we do. ability to work together and The primary one is “Be a good human,” because we lead measure impact at scale. with integrity and always see the bigger picture—both for our team members and the communities we serve. The second one would be “Always collaborate” because we know that working as a collective team is the only way we succeed both internally and externally.
If you had a theme song, what would it be and why? “Our Own House” by MisterWives. From the day we built Unite Us, we’ve had to stand tall, overcome barriers and fears and stay true to our mission. Then, having created a new sector in which we’ve become the leader, we had to have vision and take chances with a team of believers to build something special. We “built our own house” and ecosystem so, “that it’ll never fall apart.”
@tayjustice @uniteushq uniteus.com
72 Innovators
we could decode how the human immune system fights disease to What if extend our health and lifespans?
Ted Schenkelberg has experience The Human Vaccines Project across the biotech, business and is a bold public-private initiative global health sectors. He is Co- that aims to decode the human Founder/COO of the Human immune system to make the Vaccines Project, a pioneering next leap forward in human initiative focused on decoding the health. Pioneering a new era in human immune system that he health, the Project will enable guided from concept to global organization. Ted has been the creation of next-generation a strategic consultant to the Pew Charitable Trusts’ vaccines, diagnostics, and Antibiotic Resistance Initiative, Planned Parenthood, the therapies across diseases. Aravind Eye Hospital in India, and Director at the Inter- national AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) building a global program operating in 21 countries. Prior, Ted was an Equity Analyst at a $1B+ investment firm. Ted holds an MBA (University of Chicago), MPH in Infectious Disease (Johns Hopkins University), BA (Grinnell College and completed graduate work at the London School of Economics. Board membership: Human Vaccines Project European Foundation and the African Services Committee.
What’s the most inventive, innovative, or disruptive aspect of your initiative? The Human Vaccines Project is focused on breaking down silos to make transformational advances in preventing and treating disease. We focus on understanding the underlying system that fights disease (the immune system) rather than a specific disease, and work across sectors including academia, industry, government and nonprofits. We bring together an interdisciplinary group of scientists merging latest advances in biomedicine and computing/AI.
If you had a theme song, what would it be and why? “Rebel, Rebel”, David Bowie. Hopefully we are doing science in new and impactful ways, bringing together many different strands to create something entirely new. We also hope to help change our generation and inspire
@humanvacproject the next. I think Bowie and this song is a good model for humanvaccinesproject.org that. His impact is still being felt across music, activism, fashion and the arts.
73 Innovators
we could not only read your genome, but directly interrogate What if your epigenome—using both to assess health?
William Dunbar co-founded Ontera Bio is democratizing Ontera (then called Two Pore Guys), precision diagnostics to create and currently serves as CTO to a more sustainable planet. lead data analysis and IP creation. By counting molecules that Prior to Ontera, William was an matter, we enable fast and engineering professor for 12 years at precise identification of targets, University of California Santa Cruz, diseases and resistances where publishing over 50 peer-reviewed papers and earning and when needed. With the the National Science Foundation’s prestigious CAREER development of NanoDetector award. Bill is co-inventor on 10 issued patents on diverse and NanoMapper, our platforms topics, from self-driving cars (owned by Toyota) to are positioned to revolutionize nanopore sequencing (licensed by Oxford Nanopore molecular diagnostics. We Technologies). William invented the dual nanopore fight the rise of super pests in device at UC Santa Cruz in 2011, and co-founded Ontera plants, animals and humans to license and commercialize that IP for applications that by identifying pathogens and include structural variation detection, genome mapping treatment resistance at the point and chemistry-free polynucleotide sequencing. William of need. By bringing molecular received a Ph.D. in control and dynamical systems theory precision to the field, we enable from California Institute of Technology (Caltech). a more efficient and transparent supply chain. We are building What is the story behind the central idea that tools to map the epigenome inspired the creation of your organization/company? that will accelerate research and Automation through feedback control has enabled all innovation in human health and kinds of things, from self-driving cars to robotic surgery. agricultural technology. We are the first to automate motion control and sensing of single DNA molecules, which creates a new way to sequence genomes and map epigenomes.
What’s the most inventive, innovative, or disruptive aspect of your initiative? Until our method was developed, to sequence or to map a single DNA molecule required chemistry, adding cost and complexity. Our method eliminates these chemistry requirements. Moreover, the control technique permits re-reading each DNA many times, thereby maximizing the value of the data for each interrogated molecule.
@onterainc ontera.bio
74 PARTNERS
Partners
TEDMED’s Partners are essential supporters of our mission to inform, inspire, engage, and provoke action across this broad and passionate community in health and medicine. Each TEDMED Partner is an example of the power and possibility that comes when leaders across health and medicine challenge the status quo and make way for wonder. As thought leaders, the TEDMED Partners are driving innovation, advancing science, and building a healthier world. We are grateful that they share their devotion to a healthier world with the TEDMED Community.
Each Partner brings creative and thoughtful experiences to the annual TEDMED event and enhances the TEDMED Community year-round. From fueling our strategic thinking, funding scholarships, and powering innovation in the Social Hub, to sharing our program with academic, medical, and government institutions around the world via TEDMED Live—our Partners make TEDMED possible!
We are proud to collaborate with our Partners and are inspired by their ability to embrace wonder as they work to create a healthier world. To each and every one of our Partners, we thank you.
75 Global Partner
RWJF is dedicated to building a Culture of Health where everyone has a fair and just opportunity for a healthier life. When we make way for wonder, we see the systems that create barriers for good health for too many people. These barriers can be where we live, how much money we make, the discrimination we face, our rapidly warming planet—they all impact health. When we work to dismantle these systems and remove their barriers, everyone’s health benefits.
rwjf.com
we work toward giving everyone a fair and just opportunity to live their healthiest life possible.
76 Collaborating Partner
Astellas Oncology is committed to turning innovative science into medical solutions that address hard-to-treat cancers with limited therapeutic options. This is where we see the most promise and the greatest opportunity to help people living with cancer. At the same time, we understand the complexity of the cancer journey, which is why we fund the best ideas in cancer care beyond medicine. The C3 Prize is a movement sparked by Astellas and sustained by the cancer community.
astellas.com
we focus on the holistic patient experience and strive to make each day better for patients and caregivers.
77 Collaborating Partner
Sanofi and Regeneron are committed to empowering patients through education— about both the science and the human impact of disease. Those living with chronic diseases such as asthma or atopic dermatitis may think they know enough about their condition, but when we make way for wonder, we discover a hidden thread —type 2 inflammation — that underlies seemingly unconnected diseases.
sanofi.us regeneron.com
we advance the latest science, shine a light on hidden connections, and empower our community to take control of their health.
78 Collaborating Partner
“Wonder drugs” got their name because wonder was at the heart of their discovery. However, wonder doesn’t succeed alone. While it brings breakthroughs into the world, trust fuels their growth. For 200 years, the U.S. Pharmacopeia, an independent, nonprofit, scientific organization, has been building trust in medicine through our rigorous science and the standards we set. Wonder will continue to create breakthroughs. And, we will continue to work with our partners to build trust in medicine to help people worldwide enjoy longer healthier lives.
usp.org
life-changing breakthroughs become possible, along with the trust required for them to take hold, to realize the promise of a healthier world.
79 Innovation Partners
Geisinger is recognized for its innovative nature, fueled by generations of data, which is evident in innovations such as MyCode and the Fresh Food Farmacy. Geisinger is mission-driven to keep people healthy and, through its medical school, encourages a future generation of providers to Make Way for Wonder as they lead tomorrow’s healthcare transformations.
geisinger.org
we can break through the noise and develop simple solutions to complex health problems.
Humana is committed to making healthcare better. We are investing in integrated care, home care, and new data and analytics capabilities to help doctors and clinicians personalize care and improve the health of the millions of members Humana serves. This work is transforming Humana from an insurance company to a health and well-being company.
humana.com
healthcare becomes more accessible, and individuals and communities become healthier.
80 Innovation Partner
How will you impact the future of health? Deloitte is inspired by this question every day. In a health care journey that starts with data-driven insight, focuses on well-being, and inspires wonder, it’s our mission to help clients turn uncertainty into opportunity. Through audit, advisory, consulting, and tax capabilities, we can help you find your place in the future of health.
deloitte.com/future
a future of health emerges in which well-being is actively sustained through science, data, and technology.
81 Supporting Partners
The Commonwealth Fund promotes policies that lead to better access, improved quality, and greater efficiency, especially for society’s most vulnerable. From investing in rural hospitals in the 1920s to advancing work on women’s health, the Fund challenges leaders and policymakers to take new opportunities to make American health care the best in the world.
commonwealthfund.org
we identify the policies and practices needed to ensure that all Americans, especially the most vulnerable among us, have access to high quality, affordable care.
Abbott is a global healthcare leader that helps people live more fully at all stages of life. Our portfolio of life-changing technologies spans the spectrum of healthcare, with leading businesses and products in diagnostics, medical devices, nutritionals and branded generic medicines. Our 107,000 colleagues serve people in more than 160 countries.
abbott.com
we help people live better and healthier with our life-changing technologies.
82 Friends of TEDMED
we unravel medical complexity so health practitioners know better and can do better.
we can reimagine medicine.
we relish the opportunity not to follow footsteps, but to create the path for bringing more gene therapies for more genetic diseases to patients and families.
the future of what’s possible for human health and medicine is redefined.
mission driven healthcare innovation can exceed expectations, build trust and restore hope for our nation’s Veterans.
83 Contributing Partners
Digitas Health is proud to make way for wonder as TEDMED’s social media partner for the sixth year. We believe that when brands across the healthcare spectrum fit meaningfully into the lives of the people they serve, we all find the wonder and power of human connection building better health outcomes.
digitashealth.com
brands help people tell their own stories, cutting through the complexity, connecting them to better decisions, and improving health outcomes.
At TBWA\World Health, the Disruption® Company, we believe that in order to create a healthier world, we must disrupt the attitudes and behaviors that currently shape it. Our goal is to be a one-of-a-kind partner to the world’s most ambitious health and wellness brands; eagerly pushing together to make the world a healthier, more compassionate place.
tbwaworldhealth.com
we disrupt conventional thinking, awakening boundless possibilities in health and wellness.
84 Contributing Partner
At Patients & Purpose, our purpose is to make patients better—better communicators with their doctors, better managers of their condition, and better advocates for their health. We believe it’s only when health brands truly understand the hearts and minds of those they serve, that patients can harness the hope and wonder that surrounds them.
patientsandpurpose.com
patients experience a journey of hope.
85 Contributors
TEDMED is grateful to our Contributors. Each of these creative organizations helps to bring TEDMED’s mission to life over the course of the event. We thank them for their part in making TEDMED 2020 possible.
86 Snack Contributors
Our Snack Contributors support TEDMED by bringing their healthy, environmentally conscious, and much- loved snacks and beverages to our community. We thank these companies for keeping our bodies nourished and energized at TEDMED 2020.
87 Notes:
88 GRATITUDE
Gratitude
We extend our profound and enduring Gratitude to everyone who has contributed to making TEDMED 2020 a meaningful success.
The passion and generosity of TEDMED’s global community brings wonder and curiosity to our annual gathering. Our community’s sharing of time, knowledge, resources, encouragement, skills, and talents are what make TEDMED so special. And it is through their generosity that TEDMED’s mission and impact, in shaping a healthier humanity, is possible.
89 Gratitude
Abdullah Zoheb Azhar Lawrence Sumulong Alex Scialdone Lisa Mogol Alyssa Piccini Schaffer Maegan Stephens American Association for Marc O Griofa Physician Leadership Marina Kishlyansky American Geriatric Society Melissa Victor American Medical Women’s Michael MacFall Association Michael Weitz Association of American Medical Colleges Minda Madore Brittany Renee Morgan Simko C. Garrison Fathman Nassim Assefi Capture Technologies Param Dedhia Carrie Jarrett Peter Botting Caroline Wilson PharmaVOICE Christopher Lopez Pratik Chhetri Cory Frank Purvi Patel Dalton Hughes Rachael Johnson Erin Jeruzal Ramita Ravi Greg Weintraub Rashika Verma Hugh Shirley Ritesh Bhattacharjee Jacob W. Plummer Ryan Lash James Maskell Sarah Dohadwala Jasmina Tomic Sean Nieburg Jessica Castellanos Simrita Sandhu Jordan Lipaz Stacey Riddick Julia Ramseyer Steven Lee Kat Haber Taila Cimone Kate Krueger Tom Condon Keiko Satoh Tom Fowler Keegan Mendez Tony Cisek Kevin Liu Wayne Bryant Kym White Zac Smith
90 Partners
Special thanks to our Partners, who make TEDMED possible.
Global Partner
Collaborating Partners
Innovation Partners
Supporting Partners
Friends of TEDMED
Contributing Partners
91 Founding Patrons
Dorothy J. Bahna Ralph M. Bahna August 23, 1942 – February 24, 2014 Ian and Nancy Ashken Mark Brodsky Jay and Eileen Walker Ricardo “Ric” Elias Jon and Suzanne Ellenthal Ford Franklin Farabow, Jr January 6, 1938 – September 12, 2016 Daniel S. Feldstein Tan Sri Kok Thay “KT” Lim Richard Merkin, MD Joann M. Neth Harry Peden, III Nancy Peretsman Jose and Patricia Suarez Jeff C. Tarr, Sr. Joon Yun, MD
92 Editorial Advisory Board
At TEDMED, we are incredibly grateful for the time and energy that the following individuals volunteered over the past year curating and selecting our stage program:
Adam Goulburn Michael Painter Alicia Jackson Michael Penn Celine Gounder Nadja Oertelt Chrissie Giles Pam Belluck Harith Rajagopalan Roxanne Khamsi Howard Bauchner Sara Gorman Kafui Dzirasa Shantanu Nundy Kathleen Goodman Udaya Patnaik Lisa Rosenbaum Vanessa Ruiz Lucy Kalanithi
93 The TEDMED Team
Shirley Bergin Chief Operating Officer; Executive Director and Producer Lucy Crawford Senior Program Manager, Partnerships Melanie Howley Head of Community Development & Event Registration Courtney Marshall Marketing and Communications Manager Ana-Maria Visoiu Program Manager Lindsey Walker Executive Program Manager; Board, Secretary Marcus Webb Chief Storytelling Officer Jing Xie Staff Accountant Ellen Tuckett Director Digital Operations Dorothy J. Bahna Board, Vice Chair Karen Romaine Board, Treasurer Eileen Walker Board, Chair Jay Walker Board, Director
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99 An independent event TED logo used under license from TED Conferences, LLC. Speaker Portraits © 2020 Alvaro Tapia Hidalgo Text pages printed on recycled paper that contains 100% certified post-consumer fiber, manufactured using Green-e certified wind-generated electricity. Designed by Alexander Isley Inc. joy reveals itself. Even in the oncology clinic. ● the impact of our work helps lay the foundation essential in understanding the essence of life. ● I guide the development of unconventional strategies for treating addiction and related neuropsychiatric disorders. ● my mind opens up. ● I wander on the edges of science and art and find ways to turn the complex into compelling. ● the distinctions between urgency and importance become clear. ● I strive for a just society and a just, safe world for posterity. ● I find inspiration in everything around me. ● The seemingly impossible problems start to look solvable. ● patients experience a journey of hope. ● I let go of fear and “what if’s.” I can feel my energy and creativity and am able to visualize the possibilities within my reach. ● the future of what’s possible for human health and medicine is redefined.● mission driven healthcare innovation can exceed expectations, build trust and restore hope for our nation’s Veterans. ● I reach into and free the hearts and minds of children and parents who are in the grip of unrelenting anxiety. ● brands help people tell their own stories, cutting through the complexity, connecting them to better decisions, and improving health outcomes. ● we relish the opportunity not to follow footsteps, but to create the path for bringing more gene therapies for more genetic diseases to patients and families. ● we identify the policies and practices needed to ensure that all Americans, especially the most vulnerable among us, have access to high quality, affordable care. ● we build a fuller and healthier future for us all. ● we disrupt conventional thinking, awakening boundless possibilities in health and wellness. ● we can break through the noise and develop simple solutions to complex health problems. ● life-changing breakthroughs become possible, along with the trust required for them to take hold in order to realize the promise of a healthier world. ● we unravel medical complexity so health practitioners know better and can do better. ● we advance the latest science, shine a light on hidden connections, and empower our community to take control of their health. ● a future of health emerges in which well-being is actively sustained through science, data, and technology. ● we work toward giving everyone a fair and just opportunity to live their healthiest life possible. ● life becomes more joyful. ● astounding realities stretch the boundaries of belief and turbocharge the muscles of imagination.