Preparing the TEDMED Stage Program is a year-long process, which begins the moment the first Speaker nominations come in. Each submission requires thorough research and careful consideration for how it might fit into the larger program. For help identifying the individuals and topics that will take the stage at our annual TEDMED event, we turn to the TEDMED Community—specifically our Editorial Advisory Board Members and Research Scholars—for their insight and expertise.
As a first step in the process, we rely on our Editorial Advisory Board members to suggest timely topics and themes that should be featured on stage and to provide their feedback on which Speaker nominations most embody the important work these topics and themes represent. Having completed four Editorial Advisory Board meetings and countless discussions following each meeting, the 2018 Stage Program curation process is well underway. While there is still work to do, we’re excited about how the program is shaping up.
Now comes the point in the process where we begin vetting the science and potential impact of each nomination. This is where TEDMED’s Research Scholars play a crucial role. The Research Scholars, a carefully selected group of passionate and objective individuals whose expertise spans the biomedical, public health, and emerging technology spectrums, help us to properly evaluate each nomination.
This year, we have selected 45 Research Scholars with specialties ranging from neuroscience to bioethics, digital health to nursing, and oncology to public health. We’re confident that the 2018 Research Scholars have the diverse backgrounds and breadth of knowledge that will allow us to take a deep dive into the complexities of this year’s Speaker nominations and to evaluate their suitability for this year’s program.
Our 2018 Research Scholars represent organizations and institutions including the Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins University, the YMCA of the USA, Skoll Global Threats Fund, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai’s Loeb Center for Alzheimer’s Disease, GE Healthcare, the The University of Pittsburgh, the American Medical Association, and more.
Additionally, we’re excited to announce that we’re trying something new this year. We’ve partnered with Massive, a digital science media publication that brings together scientists and the science-curious public, and tapped into their pool of first-rate researchers to help us evaluate this year’s nominations. The TEDMED-Massive Scholars are members of TEDMED’s 2018 Research Scholars Program, and they are denoted by an asterisk in the list below. We’re excited about the TEDMED-Massive partnership, and we’re looking forward to sharing more over the coming months about how we’ll work together.
We are honored to announce this year’s TEDMED Research Scholars, and we thank them for their invaluable contributions.
Akash Chandawarkar, MD
Plastic Surgery, Medical Technology Innovation
*Anastasia Gorelova, PhD Candidate
Molecular Pharmacology, Cardiovascular Biology
Anna Pimenova, PhD
Neuroscience, Neurodegeneration
*Aparna Shah, PhD
Neuroscience, Pharmacology, Psychiatric Disorders
Beth Ann Swan, PhD, CRNP, FAAN
Healthy Communities, Health Care Delivery
Beth Taylor Mack, PhD
Health and Wellness Innovation
Boluwaji Ogunyemi, MD
Epidemiology, Dermatology, Medical Humanities, Health Advocacy
Bryon Petersen, PhD
Bioengineering, Stem Cell Biology
Camilla Engblom, PhD
Cancer Immunology
Christina Schweitzer, MPhil (Cantab), BSc, MD student
Medical Education
*Dan Samorodnitsky, PhD
Molecular Biology
Daniel Bu, BA, MD/MSCR Candidate
Health Care Delivery, Science and Technology
Danny Jomaa, MSc Candidate
Cancer Biology, Neuroscience
Diana Chen, MA, MD/MBA Candidate
Global Health, Healthcare Delivery, Marketing
Dilip Thomas, PhD
Tissue Engineering, Regenerative Medicine
Elisa L Priest, DrPH
Healthcare Quality, Epidemiology, Population Health
Elizabeth Rochin, PhD, RN, NE-BC
Maternal Health, Population Health, Patient Engagement
Emal Lesha, MD Candidate
Bioengineering, Biotechnology, Health Care
Emilie Grasset, PhD
Immunology
*Gabriela Serrato Marks, PhD Candidate
Climate Change, Science Communication
Gyan Kapur
Healthcare Technology, Genomics
*Irene Park, MS
Genetics, Science Communication
Jeffrey L. Blackman, MBA
Corporate Innovation, Entrepreneurship
Jennifer Olsen, DrPH
Public Health, Data Utilization
*Josh Peters, PhD Candidate
Quantitative Biology, Genomics, Infectious Disease
Joshua Brown, PharmD, PhD
Health Economics and Outcomes Research
Kaylynn Purdy, H BHSc, MD Candidate
Medical Education, Health Advocacy, Neuroscience
Kelly Jamieson Thomas, PhD
Cancer Prevention, Wellness Education
*Laetitia Meyrueix, PhD Candidate
Nutrition, Epigenetics, Public Health
Maria Papageorgiou, MSc, MBA
Market Access, HTA, Health Economics, Marketing
Meg Barron, MBA
Digital Health, Healthcare Innovation
*Melanie Silvis, PhD Candidate
Microbiology, Genetics, Genome Engineering, Antibiotic Discovery
Nicole Stone, PhD
Cardiac Reprogramming, Epigenomics
Paul Lindberg, JD
Public Health, Healthy Communities
Pierre Elias, MD
Cardiology, Data Science
Pramod Pinnamaneni, MD
Oncology, Healthcare Innovation, Cost and Utilization
Raja R Narayan, MD MPH
General Surgery, Medical Device Innovation
Regina Wysocki, MS, RN-BC
Nursing Informatics, Healthcare Information Technology
Shaahin Dadjoo, DMD Candidate
Dental Medicine, Craniofacial Development, Mindfulness
Steven Randazzo
Open Innovation, User-Centered Design
Tabitha Moses, MS
Bioethics, Medicine, Neuroscience, Public Health
Tanmay Gokhale, MD PhD Candidate
Biomedical Engineering, Computational Modeling, Cardiology, Entrepreneurship
*Yewande Pearse, PhD
Neuroscience, Gene Therapy, Stem Cell Therapy
Zuber Memon
Affordable Healthcare Technologies, Open Innovation
*Massive-TEDMED Scholar. Learn more about Massive at massivesci.com.