We worry about what our doctors will tell us -- and so do they. Doctors, scientists and medical researchers weigh in on health care and better health practices.

You may be the patient. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be an active participant in getting the best possible care.

Dr. Ernest Madu runs the Heart Institute of the Caribbean in Kingston, Jamaica, where he proves that -- with careful design, smart technical choices, and a true desire to serve -- it's possible to offer world-class healthcare in the developing world.

At TEDMED, Eric Dishman makes a bold argument: The US health care system is like computing circa 1959, tethered to big, unwieldy central systems: hospitals, doctors, nursing homes. As our aging population booms, it's imperative, he says, to create personal, networked, home-based health care for all.

Every cell in the human body has a sex, which means that men and women are different right down to the cellular level. Yet too often, research and medicine ignore this insight -- and the often startlingly different ways in which the two sexes respond to disease or treatment. As pioneering doctor Paula Johnson describes in this thought-provoking ...

Timothy Ihrig advocates for an approach to healthcare that prioritizes a patient's personal values.

An exploration of what it would like if the medical industry practiced a more patient-first mentality.

Ivan Oransky is the executive editor of Reuters Health, and has done pioneering work in covering scientific retractions.

A billion people around the world lack access to health care because they live too far from a clinic. 2017 TED Prize winner Raj Panjabi aims to extend health services to the last mile.

A doctor by training, Stefan Larsson of BCG researches how transparency of medical outcomes and costs could radically transform the healthcare industry.

Rebecca Onie asks audacious questions: What if waiting rooms were a place to improve daily health care? What if doctors could prescribe food, housing and heat in the winter? At TEDMED she describes Health Leads, an organization that does just that -- and does it by building a volunteer base as elite and dedicated as a college sports team.

Surgeon and public health professor by day, writer by night, Atul Gawande explores how doctors can dramatically improve their practice using approaches as simple as a checklist – or coaching.

Physician and 2017 TED Prize recipient Raj Panjabi shares an update on Last Mile Health and the mission to build and scale a network of community health workers who provide essential medical services to their neighbors. Learn how the movement is creating fair, meaningful jobs -- and an equitable health care system that reaches everyone.

Joel Bervell was one of the only Black students in his medical school program. After noticing how misconceptions about race were embedded in health care, he turned to social media to raise awareness about the harmful impact of biases in medicine. He unpacks the long history of race-based health care disparities — and shows what the medical field...

Collecting global health data is an imperfect science: Workers tramp through villages to knock on doors and ask questions, write the answers on paper forms, then input the data -- and from this messy, gappy information, countries and NGOs need to make huge decisions. Data geek Joel Selanikio talks through the sea change in collecting health data...

I wish that you will help me recruit the largest army of community health workers the world has ever known, by creating the Community Health Academy, a global platform to train, empower and connect. The plan A billion people around the world lack access to health care, simply because they live too far from a doctor or clinic. For them, getting m...

Rishi Manchanda is an "upstreamist." A physician and public health innovator, he aims to reinvigorate primary care by teaching doctors to think about—and treat—the social and environmental conditions that often underly sickness.

David Casarett asks: What if mainstream health care operated more like a medical marijuana dispensary?

Health care workers are under more stress than ever before. How can they protect their mental health while handling new and complex pressures? TED Fellow Laurel Braitman shows how writing and sharing personal stories helps physicians, nurses, medical students and other health professionals connect more meaningfully with themselves and others -- ...

TED Fellow and global health researcher Francisca Mutapi discusses how COVID-19 responses borrowed from the West created significant obstacles for other public health programs in Africa -- and makes the case for the continent to chart out its own health care policies. "The solutions to Africa's health problems must be home-grown and must be led ...

TED Fellow Soyapi Mumba creates technology solutions for low-resource environments.

Dr. Steven Schwaitzberg is on a mission to teach surgeons around the world to perform minimally invasive surgery. But first, he's had to find the right technology to allow communication across the language barrier.

The chair of neurosurgery at the University of Toronto, Andres Lozano has pioneered the use of deep brain stimulation for treating Parkinson’s, depression, anorexia and Alzheimer’s disease.

When Eric Dishman was in college, doctors told him he had 2 to 3 years to live. That was a long time ago. Now, Dishman puts his experience and his expertise as a medical tech specialist together to suggest a bold idea for reinventing health care -- by putting the patient at the center of a treatment team.

Whether we're rushing a child to the emergency room after a fall or making chicken soup for a feverish spouse, love inspires us to act when a family member gets sick. Global health activists Edith Elliott and Shahed Alam believe we can harness this power to create better health outcomes for everyone. Learn how their organization Noora Health wor...

Fresh thinking on how we can make a health system that works better for everyone.

American journalist and Havana resident Gail Reed spotlights a Cuban medical school that trains doctors from low-income countries who pledge to serve communities like their own.

Comics creator Sam Hester is part of a growing movement within health care: graphic medicine. In short, literally drawing attention to a patient's needs and goals with pictures to foster better and more accessible caretaking. Hester shares how illustrating small details of her mother's medical story as she struggled with mysterious symptoms alon...

Pulitzer winner Laurie Garrett studies global health and disease prevention. Her books include "The Coming Plague" and "Betrayal of Trust," about the crisis in global public health.

In a powerful personal narrative and slam poem, healthcare executive Maija Williams exposes the stark disparities in the current system, recounting her experience dealing with a dangerous medical emergency. She delivers a passionate call to action for everyone to recognize health care as a fundamental right that must be delivered equitably.