Theme: Human Health

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized (subject to certain rules and regulations).

Merck Research Laboratories
33 Avenue Louis Pasteur
Boston, Massachusetts, 02115
United States

Kate Jeffrey

Epigenomic Immunologist

Kate Jeffrey is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, an Assistant in Immunology at Massachusetts General Hospital, Faculty of Harvard Immunology, Faculty of Harvard Virology, and an associate member of the Broad Institute of MIT & Harvard. Her research focuses on the epigenomic regulation of innate immunity in health and disease. Her work established inhibitors of epigenetic enzymes as anti-inflammatory agents and she recently was the first to describe a loss of an epigenetic enzyme in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. Kate is also co-founder of the New York Imagine Science Film Festival in New York and is a proud mother of two daughters.

Robert Moir

Neurobiology Pioneer

Robert Moir is an Assistant Professor at Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Neurology and Harvard Medical School. He is a neurobiologist whose research focus is the cause of dementia in Alzheimer's disease (AD). A decade ago he identified an unsuspected immune role for the protein thought to drive neurodegeneration in AD. His findings revealed the protein is a natural antibiotic and has since shown the protein’s antimicrobial actions result in the hallmark brain pathology that makes AD so distinct from other dementias. His discoveries suggest microbes may play a key role in AD and are challenging longstanding views on the origins of this terrible disease.

Shea Rose

Musician

Shea Rose is a singer, songwriter, curator, and activist. She has won multiple Boston Music Awards, is a featured songwriter and performer on two Grammy award-winning jazz albums, and shared the stage with Gladys Knight, Macy Gray, and Alice Smith. Her music, influenced by soul, R&B, hip-hop, rock, and folk, speaks to both personal and cultural issues. She believes in the power of music as a conduit for social change and engages with global organizations and communities in an effort to inspire change through music. In addition to performing and writing, she is a professor at Berklee College of Music and curates the RISE Music Series at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.