Theme: Interpret Visualise Respond

The three dimensions describe the world we live in, where everything seems perceptible. What seems metaphorically real is the concept of ideas. Everyone holds the power and ability to come up with great ideas, but the capacity of converting seemingly unachievable ideas and thoughts into actions. Something 3-Dimensional to implement a true change is what the third edition of TEDxSCBMCH is based on.
TEDxSCBMCH: interpreT, visualizE, responD

New auditorium
SCB medical college
Cuttack, Orissa, 753001
India

Binayak Acharya

Entrepreneur

Mr. Binayak Acharya, Founder and CEO of the venture-backed, World Bank awarded social enterprise ThinkZone which works towards improving the educational outcomes of children from low-resource settings, utilizing offline-enabled mobile apps for training and equipping youth to become educators and responsible citizens. With initiatives like EmpowerEducators and PRAKASHAK, ThinkZone has positively impacted approximately 50000 students across Odisha, in collaboration with multiple government and non-government entities. It envisions to expand and spread ideas that resonate.

Chitrasen Sahu

Double Amputee Mountain Climber

Chitrasen Sahu, "Half Human Robo,"i s an Indian mountaineer and inclusion and disability rights activist. He is the first double amputee from India to scale Mount Elbrus, Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Kosciuszko. He is also a national wheelchair basketball player. On 4 June 2014, while attempting to board a train, his hands slipped, he fell between the train and the platform and both of his legs were badly damaged. He was admitted to a hospital in Raipur and in the space of 24 days both his legs were amputated. After his accident, he decided to attempt the Seven Summits. He established "Mission Inclusion," which provides assistance to people with disabilities through counseling and the donation of artificial limbs. He is also a motivational speaker who has helped more than 2000 differently abled comrades with proper counseling. He is the proud recipient of Chhattisgarh Ratna Award 2019 Swayam Siddha Foundation.

Dr Iti Rani Samanta

Columnist

Iti Rani Samanta is an Indian columnist, journalist and film producer.She was born in the year 1970 in a village called Kalarabanka in Cuttack, Odisha.After losing her father early, and due to scarce economic support, her early childhood saw her struggling for sustenance and survival. She was brought up by her mother amidst poverty and sticky social challenges. Her early writing efforts later developed into short stories, novels and feature articles on women's empowerment and other gender-related issues. She established Kadambini Media in the year 2000. From the beginning as a publisher of family magazine The Kadambini the organization has now expanded to a leading publishing house. The Kadambini and The Kunikatha are two magazines in Odia being published by Kadambini Media and run by Samanta, who also edits these two periodicals.

Dr Nusrat Sanghamitra

Scientist, Entrepreneur

Dr Nusrat Sanghamitra is an Indian innovator, scientist, entrepreneur and motivator. She started her research journey with a mission 'to find a better anticancer drug with fewer side effects. She is a chemist by training with a fascination for biology. She obtained her PhD from one of India's premier research Institute Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. After a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Leiden University, The Netherlands and Kyoto University, Japan. She founded CyGenica to translate her ideas and research from bench to bedside, to make an impact in oncology and to make significant contribution to the global fight against cancer. Her academic experience in the field of bio functional chemistry spans over 17 years. Her long term vision includes, establishing a center as an one spot solution for cancer in her native place in Odisha. Along with winning Tech Global Startup Competition 2019 held in Beijing, she has also received the National award from the President in 2018.

Dr Praveen Tripathi

Psychiatrist

Dr. Praveen Tripathi, a consultant psychiatrist, & specialist, is a member of renowned medical associations like the INDIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION and the AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATION. He is also one of the most sought after mentor for psychiatry by UG MBBS students all across the country, available at cerebellum academy. He is amongst the few Indian doctors who have cleared the prestigious United States Clinical Skill examination that evaluates a doctor’s clinical competency. As a trained medical professional from HAVARD MEDICAL CENTRE, his expertise in adult psychiatry & sexual disorders has benefited many. He is also the author of “Review of Psychiatry”, the best selling psychiatry book in India .Apart from clinical practice, he regularly trains young doctors across the country and is also a publisher of multiple research articles in both international and national journals.

Dr. Mrutunjay Mohapatra

Director General, Indian Meteorological Department

Dr. Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, Director General, India Meteorological Department and Permanent Representative of India with WMO & Member of Executive Council, WMO. With a Ph.D in Physics and 28 years of experience in meteorology, he has made significant contributions in improvement of early warning services of IMD, popularly known as “The Cyclone Man of India”. He received awards/recognitions from different agencies including Honorary D.Sc. from FM University and Kalinga Institute of Technology, Fellow, Indian Meteorological Society, Certificate of Merit for Young Scientist by Ministry of Earth Sciences, 25th Biennial Mausam Award. He is the Chairman, Regional Sub-project Management Team of Severe Weather Forecast Program, South Asia, and was Chairman of WMO/ESCAP Panel on Tropical Cyclones for 2017-18, Task Team for INSAT-4 satellites(2025), Technical Evaluation Committee for Consultancy on National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project.

Mrs Kena Shree

Poet

Mrs. Kena Shree is a writer,poet ,blogger and storyteller. She is a co-contributor to two published anthologies and writes at various prestigious forums. She works as Senior Corporate Manager and features in the list of “Top 100 HR influencers on Twitter”, “Top 100 women leaders at workplace”, finalist in HT Woman Award 2017 and FICCI FLO “Outstanding Woman Corporate Director”. On any random day, you could find her running free, laughing boisterously and bleeding with her pen. She writes for the Huffington Post, Hindustan Times, Cox and Kings India, Women’s Web and Sheroes among other writing forums, and also a column for the Lifestyle section of the Times of India web edition. She had recently co-curated 6-day Asia’s first Feminist Poetry Festival for the prestigious ‘She the People’ platform.She says,”Life ka agla panna black and white ho ya rangeen, isse koi fark nai padta! Agle panne me aap kya likhenge, aap kya padhenge, Aap Kaise jeeyange is all that matters.”

Mrs Neelima Mishra

Environmentalist

“Why Plastic film-wrapped cooked food, when we Indians are privileged with steel and reusable dabbas?” says climate activist and entrepreneur Neelima Mishra. As someone who has travelled right up to the Arctic for climate change expeditions, she has a plethora of insightful and impactful experience drawing from her climate-centered journey. She did her M.Phil in Environmental Policy from University of Cambridge, UK and is a Chevening Scholar 21-22. Now, having started her social enterprise Ceiba Green Solutions to do good for the earth through her contribution, she is also working with the State Government of Odisha to create awareness and action around resources, waste management and more. By encouraging local and sub-local women-led organisations, co-operatives and campaigns, she also champions gender-inclusive climate action as she believes including everyone in this fight is certainly the way forward to bring change.

Padma Shri Aruna Mohanty

Odissi Dancer

Aruna Mohanty is an Odissi dancer, choreographer and guru. She is currently the Secretary of the Odisha Dance Academy. She has received Padmashree award. Aruna Mohanty has nearly five decades of experience as a dancer and choreographer. Her choreographed works include Srushti O Pralay depicting the super cyclone that hit Odisha in 1999, Sravana Kumar, Kharavela, Jatra Baramasi, Gatha Odissi, Pratinayak, Krishna Sharanam, several Ashtapadis from Jayadeva's Gita Govinda, and Siddhartha based on the novel of the same name by the German novelist Hermann Hesse. She has used her art to examine contemporary and social issues, in Naari, gender stereotypes and the status of women in society are explored through the lives and stories of several women in Indian literature and history. She has conducted research on dance, focusing on topics such as the representation of the male dancer in classical sculpture and the evolution of Odissi in the post-Independence era.

Padma Shri Sudarshan Pattnaik

Sand Artist

Sudarshan Pattnaik is an extraordinary sand artist who has made India proud with his magnificent sand sculptures. He is the first artist to introduce sand art in India and looking at his beautiful pieces of sand art it is hard to believe that he has not received any formal training and learned it all by himself. Born and brought up in Puri ,city of Odisha, he was inclined towards this form of art since childhood. The result of his pure dedication is that he became the first and world-famous Indian sand artist with a huge list of achievements credited to his name. He belonged to a poor family where he could not afford education, but because of his unique art of making sand his canvas and painting beautiful sculptures destiny dragged him to worldwide fame. He was awarded with Padma Shri , the fourth highest civilian award in India, he also won People’s Choice Awards at the 1st Moscow International Sand Sculpture Championship.

Smt Pravasini Mahakud

Poet

Pravasini Mahakud is an Odia poet and translator. She did her M.A. in Odia Language and Literature from Utkal University, Odisha. She worked as a lecturer in Sambalpur University, and as a consultant in School of Translation, IGNOU, New Delhi. In addition to twelve collections of Odia poetry and one collection of poetry translated into Hindi, she has published eighteen books translated into Odia from Hindi. She is the recipient of the Odia Sahitya Akademi Award, Jhankar award, Junior and Senior fellowship from the Ministry of Culture, Government of India. Presently, she is working on the biography of Odisha’s famous Odissi dancer, Kelucharan Mohapatra funded by the Raza Foundation, Delhi. She takes active participation in seminars and poetry festivals across India, She also contributes poems in multiple state and national magazines.

Usha Padhee

IAS Officer

Usha Padhee IAS is a New Delhi-based civil servant. She is working in the Ministry of Civil Aviation as a Joint Secretary. Usha is famous for her motivational speeches. Moreover, she is a civil engineer as well. Notably, she is the first woman to become Director-General of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security. A dynamic bureaucrat, Usha served as the secretary, School and Mass education, Government of Odisha before being deputed at central deputation in 2022, she was appointed as the principal secretary at skill and Technically education Department along with additional charge of commerce and transport Department.