Theme: This Is My Origin

Join us at TEDxUofIChicago 2017 at JST Event Center in bustling downtown Chicago! You'll get the chance to hear from a diverse range of speakers who will inspire you to consider the origin of ideas.

JST Event Center
718 W Rochford Street
Chicago, Illinois, 60607
United States

Andrew Trotter

Infectious Disease Specialist and Internist

Andrew Trotter, MD MPH is an infectious disease specialist and internist at the University of Illinois Hospital and Health Sciences System and an assistant professor in the Division of Infectious Disease, Immunology and International Medicine at the University of Illinois College of Medicine’s Chicago campus. His clinical work focuses on the care of people living with HIV both in urban centers in the US and in resource poor international settings. He sees healthcare through the lens of social justice and human rights, no matter where it may be. Dr. Trotter recently returned to the US after living in Nepal for three years volunteering at an academic teaching hospital, providing HIV care both in hospital and community settings and taking part in a program to provide treatment for hepatitis C.

Audrey Stillerman

Family practice physician

Audrey Stillerman, MD, is the Associate Director of Medical Affairs for the University of Illinois Office of Community Engagement and Neighborhood Health Initiative and medical director for its Mile Square-affiliated school health center program, which includes medical and behavioral health services. Dr. Stillerman is board-certified in both Family Medicine and Integrative Medicine and has been providing comprehensive care for the whole family, from babies to senior citizens, since 1991. She has worked in a variety of public and private practice settings: caring for patients; teaching medical students, residents and community members; and advocating for holistic care for some of Chicago’s neediest residents. She will discuss shifting the current illness and health paradigm through using an ACEs and trauma framework to transform practice and outcomes.

Dima Elissa

CEO of VisMed-3D

Dima Elissa is CEO and founder of VisMed-3D, a biomedical design and consulting firm that has emerged as the leader for 3D biomedical visualization and printing in personalized medicine. Dima was selected by Chicago magazine as one of the top Women in Tech, ChicagoInno’s 50 on Fire and by Chicago Tribune’s BlueSky Vault as one of the Top 100 entrepreneurs in Chicago. Her current venture, VisMed-3D, a biomedical design and consulting firm, is in keeping with her thirst for new technology and innovation. Alongside this novel start-up, she is pursuing her passion — devoting time, energy and guidance to women founders and entrepreneurs.

Emerson Spartz

CEO of Dose

Emerson Spartz is the CEO of Dose, one of the world's fastest-growing digital media companies with 50 million unique visitors per month. Dose, the company behind Dose.com and OMGFacts.com, has raised $35 million in funding.Named "The Virologist" by The New Yorker, Spartz is one of the world's leading experts on internet virality and has been featured in major media including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Inc, CBS, CNBC, and CNN. At the age of 12, Spartz founded Mugglenet, the #1 Harry Potter site and one of the largest websites of the early 2000s, which attracted 50 million page views per month. Spartz take continuous interest in how things become viral and how to optimize these statistics within digital media companies.

Malcolm London

Poet, performer and activist

Malcolm London, called the Gil-Scott Heron of this generation by Cornel West, is an internationally recognized Chicago poet, activist, educator & musician. He brings vim & vigor to his energetic performances tackling tough contemporary issues head-on. London, who runs the largest youth open mic in Chicago alongside friend Chance the Rapper, sees art as the intersection between justice & poetic imagination. Malcolm is now taking what he's learned from teaching & becoming an artivist & putting it into music. Using mediums of poetry and music, Malcolm will share how he takes his story with him wherever he goes in his effort to bring attention to contemporary issues and face them head-on.

Mark Ladd

CEO of Lyteshot

Mark J. Ladd has over 24 years of management experience leading design and technical innovation for large multi-national architectural/engineering and emerging services companies. He is the Founder/ CEO of LyteShot, an immersive augmented reality (AR) gaming platform that leverages the cloud and connected IoT devices for unique gaming experiences anywhere.Mark provides subject matter expertise and thought leadership on such topics as augmented/ virtual/ mixed reality, IoT, mobile platforms, BIM, Interactive Gaming, Internet of Things (IoT) & mobile platforms for international consulting companies such as GLG Consulting, BWG Strategy, and AlphaSights. Mark will provide insight into how, with encouragement and passion, simple childhood hobbies can turn into groundbreaking career work that shapes the future.

Tony Tasset

Artist and Art Professor

Tony Tasset (b. 1960 in Cincinnati, OH) has become renowned for creating work that satirizes our culture of exhibition and display. His work engages with the principle that the formation and understanding of our history is crucially affected by the manner in which our most esteemed objects are displayed and how our most cherished narratives are told—an approach that harkens McLuhan’s axiom "the medium is the message". Works like Tasset's “Hot Dog Man” (2011), “Bear” (2012), or “Rainbow” (2012) have come to epitomize Tasset's work. Referencing the fiberglass advertisements common in America’s Midwest or on eastern seaboard boardwalks, these sculptures tap into a tradition of amusement and advertising culture considered unique to the States. In these pieces, dime-novelties and highway-side attractions are presented within the context of fine art, a synthesis which equates dichotomous ends of the traditional cultural evaluative spectrum.