Theme: TEDxMedUniGrazWomen

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).

MED Campus Graz - Aula
Neue Stiftingtalstraße 6
Graz, Steiermark, 8010
Austria

Akhila Naz

PhD student at the Medical University of Graz

Akhila Naz Kuppassery Abdulnazar, who was born and brought up in the southern state of India, Kerala. She holds a bachelor's degree in Electronics and Biomedical Engineering from Cochin University of Science and Technology and was a University rank holder in 2018. She pursued her master’s in Electronics and Instrumentation from APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University with a scholarship. She has an experience as Research Intern at Robert Bosch and as a Software Engineer at Siemens. Now she is pursuing her Ph.D. (2nd year as of November 2022) in Computational semantics for Intelligent digital health applications (Clinical Data Science) at the Medical University of Graz. She likes to dance and travel in her free time and loves to tell stories.

Alekszandra Rokvity

Educator, Researcher, Activist, PhD candidate in Cultural Studies and Medical Humanities

Alekszandra is a Serbian-born writer and endometriosis activist, who decided to turn her pain into passion! Upon her endometriosis diagnosis, which he received after 15 years of medical gaslighting, Alekszandra committed herself to raising awareness about endometriosis: through activism and NGO work, as well as through academic work. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at the Karl Franzens University of Graz. Her doctoral dissertation is an interdisciplinary project focusing on the experiences of people with endometriosis within the healthcare system. She specializes in cultural studies and health humanities. Her work explores the connections between gender, age, the stigmatization of menstruation, and how this results in discrimination within the healthcare system. She has previously studied and taught in Serbia, Canada and Vietnam.

Anna Michalska-Falkowska

Biobanking Specialist, Clinical Team Coordinator, Clinical Data Specialist

Anna is a clinical pharmacist who is deeply engaged in the process of oncological biobanking and facilitating the cooperation between academia and industry. Her current area of interest is establishing a practical joint between the biobanks and clinical trials to promote the usage of standardized samples and data sets and reduce bias. Her personal life is fuelled by her family and biking.

Bernadette Frech

CEO Instahelp

Bernadette is CEO of Instahelp, the mental health platform offering psychological counselling online in five European markets. With Instahelp she aspires to create a room for emotions and open conversations in which new perspectives are developed with dedicated experts. Her PhD was concerned with consumer emotions. Besides, she is senior lecturer at FH JOANNEUM, Karl Franzens University and Aston Business School UK and strategic head of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor team Austria.

Caroline Schober

Vice Rector of Research and International Affairs at the Medical University of Graz

Caroline Schober is a biochemist and molecular biologist with many years of experience in international management. She has worked as a marketing and change management consultant on projects involving industrial minerals in the U.S. and in China. After nearly one decade in research management of several large national and international research projects, she managed the Institute of Molecular Bioscience at the University of Graz from 2011 to 2016. Since February 15, 2016, Caroline Schober has been Vice Rector of Research and International Affairs at the Medical University of Graz.

Christine Mark

Founder of Future Lab + Consultant and Coach to women in finding their calling and shaping their professional life

Her mission is to inspire and accompany women to create their professional life the way they want it. She helps them to figure out what they really really want (and not others) and to stand by it and go their way. Away from hiding behind the Impostor Syndrome and adapting to impossible working conditions to create the life they want. From thinking small and setting realistic goals to having a beautiful vision and stepping out of their comfort zone to grow, become visible and make a difference in the world. Christine wants to show that much more is possible and that we can think much bigger and crazier and that it is time that women get much more involved. And that we all should finally stop bending and conforming to fit into a system that no longer serves our society. For this purpose, she founded the Future Lab. There she guides women to expand their mindset, to deal with doubts, to break free from praise & criticism, to think big and to shape their lives according to their wishes.

Cornelia dal Sasso

Founder of "Cornelia dal Sasso baut Marken auf" + Personal Branding

In 2012, she founded „Cornelia dal Sasso baut Marken auf“ to help people position themselves boldly and succeed on their own terms. Cornelia is a chronically incurable optimist, a personal brand strategist & positioning expert. She is completely untalented in fitting in. Nonetheless, she keeps discovering unconsciously adopted conformities in herself. According to her grandmother, her first complete sentence was, "Can't it be done differently?" She questioned how we communicate, Pythagoras – not her best idea, and even marketing standards on how to find your USP (Unique selling proposition). She knew: What worked when passing the exam, would not work when building a brand. So she created a method (AndersFaktor®) for herself and her clients in order to find USPs with ease. Constantly on a quest to free herself and her clients from conformity and people-pleasing, she follows her vision of a free life on each individual's terms while respecting other people's boundaries.

Heike Klepetko

Board Certified Plastic Surgeon

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Senka Holzer

Assistant Professor (tenure track) at the Department of Cardiology of the Medical University of Graz + author of "Be you"

After earning a PhD in Molecular Medicine, Senka received the Austrian Science Fund’s most prestigious fellowship for female scientists, which took her to the University of California, Davis. She organized a team of coaches and scientists and in 2015, her study won McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School’s Institute of Coaching research award. While sharing her knowledge with consultants, coaches, and trainers around the globe, Senka discovered remarkable patterns about how people with high levels of wellbeing think, act, and communicate about their values, further supporting her experimental findings. Senka leads a research group on heart signaling at the Department of Cardiology of the Medical University of Graz and enjoys sharing her work on values with her students, friends, professional coaches, leaders, and total strangers sitting next to her on a plane.

Štěpánka Vojtášová

Pianist + student assistant at the Institute of Music Aesthetics at the KUG and the Austrian Student Union KUG

Štěpánka Vojtášová is a pianist, piano pedagogue, and scientist in the field of piano education. She was born and raised in Brno, the second largest city in the Czech Republic. Štěpánka started studying piano at age four. After a successful career in her youth years, giving recitals and performing at concerts and competitions, she decided to persue a Bachelor's Degree in Piano Performance and Piano Pedagogy at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Graz (KUG). In 2021, she finished both study programs and is currently pursuing her Master’s Degree in Piano pedagogy. Lately, she has turned her focus to research in music pedagogy, exploring how the nature of teacher‘s speech structures the relationship between student and teacher. Štěpánka works as a student assistant at the Institute of Music Aesthetics at the KUG and the Austrian Student Union KUG, representing students’ voices and aiming to make positive changes in the academic scene.

Svetlana Gramatiuk

President - Ukraine Association of Biobank

Dr. Svetlana Gramatiuk is president of the UAB (Ukraine Association of Biobanks), which she co-founded in 2017. She was also the medical director of the research biobank at ASK-Health (2015-2016) and the Ukraine editor of „Journal Advanced Research Biobank and Pathophysiology“ (2017). Previously, Svetlana had also established and managed several biobanks in Ukraine. In addition to her unique expertise in Biobanking, Svetlana has also completed a Master of Science in Biobanking at the Medical University of Graz. In addition to numerous publications in medicine and specifically in biobanking, she is also one of the editors of the Springer Nature book "Biobanks in Low- and Middle-Income Countries." As a doctor and scientist, she served in acute war situations and secured the research facility for better future times.

Yana Karapetyan

Project Manager

Yana was born in Armenia into a family that had a deep appreciation for art, music and culture. At the age of 5, Yana started her musical journey with the violin. At age 12, Yana started to arrange her first songs, at 18 she dove head first into singing, songwriting and original composition.After graduating at Yerevan State University, Yana started working in the music industry full time, supporting a non-profit organisation called "Nvak". Her mission was to find the talent, develop the artist and supporting them full time in Armenia, Israel and Malawi until 2021. In 2021 Yana started being involved in consulting sphere in Armenia, which lead her to the idea of creating and running her A&R Company. Nowadays she is learning, developing, and educating herself to be ready to launch an organisation that will be a safe place for singer/songwriters/painters/producers and other artists throughout their career journey.