Picture of Erin Russell

Erin Russell is an assistant editor on CMAJ and CMAJ Open

This week, some 2,200 leaders from medical and non-medical fields (including CMAJ Editorial Advisory Board member Erica Frank) will come together for TEDMED 2014, the independently owned and operated health and medicine edition of the world-famous TED conference, dedicated to “ideas worth spreading.”

Naturally, the CMAJ editorial staff is interested in this event dedicated to what’s new, inspiring, provocative, and relevant in health and medicine. What’s especially exciting about this event is the availability of TEDMED Live Streaming. As a registered affiliate of TEDMED, CMAJ editors will be streaming the event live in our offices and blogging about it here on the Editors’ Blog.

Each of 9 TEDMED Session lasts approximately 90 minutes and comprises 5-7 carefully curated talks on an important and/or provocative theme of health and medicine.

The opening session ‘Turn it upside down’ aims to challenge traditional thinking with questions like:

  • Can we harness the power of the placebo effect in the healing encounter? (Ted Kaptchuk)
  • What if the biggest contributor to pandemic development isn’t a pathogen? (Sonia Shah)
  • Why should medical education be confined to a brick and mortar university? (Erica Frank)

Other provocative sessions are titled ‘Don’t you dare talk about this’ and ‘Play is not a waste of time’.

We are excited to share our Affiliate access with our readers. If you are interested in TEDMED Live streaming, please pre-register directly with TEDMED Live.

This link: https://www.tedmed.com/tedmedlive2014registration?ic=TMLicCMAJ14 automatically inserts your special Invitation Code Registration TMLicCMAJ14 and bypasses all vetting processes. Just hit Continue on the initial screen. You will receive instructions on how to access after you complete this short registration.

We invite readers to join us in the discussion, particularly those attending the event in either San Francisco or Washington, DC.