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).

Martha Rivers Ingram Center for the Performing Arts
2400 Blakemore Ave
Nashville, Tennessee, 37212
United States

Aaditi Lele

Aaditi Lele (’24) is an undergraduate student in the College of Arts & Science, double-majoring in Political Science and Climate Studies with a minor in Asian Studies. Aaditi serves as News Editor of the Vanderbilt Hustler student newspaper, Vice President of Political Involvement for Vanderbilt Women in Government, and Vice President of Campaigns for the Vanderbilt Prison Project. Aaditi also serves as the Policy Director at Zero Hour, an international, youth-led climate nonprofit, and is passionate about fighting for immigrant and climate justice through writing and advocacy.

Alejandra Flores

Alejandra Flores was born in El Paso, Texas, but she grew up in Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico, a border city across from El Paso. Having the mix of two cultures and being first generation, it allowed Alejandra the formation of new perspectives, and it encouraged her to seek opportunities outside of her hometown area. After finishing her bachelor’s degree in Cellular and Molecular Biochemistry at the University of Texas at El Paso, she joined the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program at Vanderbilt. Currently, she is part of the Microbe-Host Interaction program where she does research on reovirus genome packaging in order to obtain a doctoral degree. Her future goals after graduation include involvement in science policy. In her free time, she enjoys reading, playing guitar, playing video games, and singing.

Benjamin Collins

Benjamin Collins is a physician-researcher, bioethicist, and informatician at Vanderbilt University Medical Center studying the ethical, legal, and social issues of artificial intelligence in healthcare. He is interested in making sure artificial intelligence and other forms of digital medicine align with the interests of patients and the community, including guiding AI to reduce health disparities. He graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine in Richmond, VA in 2017 followed by completing an Internal Medicine residency at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia, PA. During his residency, he also acquired a Master’s in Urban Bioethics at Temple University, a program focused on the social determinants of health, and graduated with a thesis on sociotechnical justice in healthcare. From there he crossed the country to Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, OR to complete a clinical informatics fellowship. He has practiced clinically as a hospitalist. While not seeing patients he is working as a postdoctoral research fellow on projects at the intersection of medicine, technology, and bioethics.

Blythe Corbett

Blythe A. Corbett, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She is the Director of the Social Emotional NeuroScience Endocrinology (SENSE) lab, a translational research program focused on better understanding and treating social competence and stress in children, adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). One of her most notable contributions has been the development of SENSE Theatre®, a peer-mediated, theatre-based intervention, which has contributed to significant improvement in reciprocal social communication in children with ASD. To date, Dr. Corbett has published over 80 original peer-reviewed articles in leading academic journals. Her research has been consistently funded by the National Institute of Mental Health since 2005, which includes a current multisite clinical trial with youth with ASD and a new study of adults with ASD both examining the impact of SENSE Theatre®.

Feylyn Lewis

Dr. Feylyn Lewis grew up as a youth caregiver for her disabled mother. In 2013, she moved to the United Kingdom to obtain her Ph.D. in Social Work, studying young adult caregivers in the US and UK. Currently, Dr. Lewis is the Assistant Dean of Student Affairs at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, while also continuing to practice as an independent researcher and consultant. She is a Caregiving.com Champion, representing caregivers in the Nashville area. Dr. Lewis served as the Hunt Research Director at the National Alliance for Caregiving during spring 2021. Dr. Lewis completed a post-doctoral research fellowship at the University of Sussex, where she co-led the United Kingdom research activities of a European Commission-funded research project to investigate the mental health well-being of adolescent young caregivers in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Slovenia, Italy, the Netherlands, and Sweden. Prior to her research career, she was a nationally certified mental health counselor. She presently sits on the Healthcare Delivery and Disparities Research Advisory Panel of PCORI, the board of trustees for the Carers Centre for Brighton and Hove (UK), the National Advisory Council for the American Association of Caregiving Youth (US), and numerous other committees. She resides in Nashville where she continues to provide care for her mother.

Rachel Brewer

Rachel Brewer ('23) is an undergraduate at Vanderbilt University, where she studies classics and environmental science. She spent a semester studying abroad in Germany and Italy, where she further developed her ideas about food and culture and began the research presented in her TEDx talk. In her free time, Rachel enjoys reading, exploring Nashville, and cooking and eating great food. She is from Pelham, New York.