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Nashville Artists, Scientists Unite in Health Fight
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Speakers
Jeffrey Balser, M.D., Ph.D.
He is Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Dr. Balser will provide insights on how personalizing medicine will drive innovation and reshape healthcare for the future.
Greg Barz
A Grammy (R) nominee and ethnomusicologist who specializes in music and medicine in sub-Saharan Africa. His book, Singing for Life: HIV/AIDS and Music in Uganda explores the use of music, dance and drama as a medical intervention in the fight against AIDS by communities in Uganda, East Africa.
Big Kenny
Big Kenny, half of the musical genre-bending duo "Big and Rich" and renowned humanitarian, reaches out to stricken areas like the Darfur region of Sudan and Haiti through his foundation, Love Everybody. Kenny will speak about how his personal philosophy and unique experiences drive his efforts to promote health-related projects all over the world.
Jason Dinger
The CEO of Dispensary of Hope, a not-for-profit network of dispensing sites, sourcing partners and financial partners that assist people without prescription drug coverage. Dinger will take us on a journey of what's possible when you reinvent the pharmaceutical supply chain.
Maureen Gannon, Ph.D.
An Associate Professor and diabetes researcher at Vanderbilt University Medical Center whose research focuses on genes that regulate the formation of the pancreatic insulin cells and how these genes might be used to stimulate the production of new insulin cells in the body. Dr. Gannon will discuss where diabetes research is headed and how new breakthroughs in making insulin cells could impact the treatment of diabetes in the future.
Read More >Eddie George
A Tennessee Titans football legend turned entrepreneur as CEO George Enterprises whose companies include EGX Lifestyle, which helps people develop healthy lifestyles, and EDGE, the planning and design firm that creates communities designed to promote healthy lifestyles that are truly sustainable--economically, socially and environmentally. He will speak about his mission to give people the knowledge, tools and inspiration to empower positive, lasting change in their approach to healthy living.
Read More >Donna Glassford
The producer of the musical, “Hey Florence!” and Executive Director of Cultural Enrichment at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Humorous and inspiring, she will speak on the value and importance of art in health care.
Read More >MAJ Scott Harrington
A brigade surgeon with the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 101st Airborne Division deployed to Eastern Afghanistan utilizing cutting edge medical care and village restoration.
Read More >Dr. James Hildreth 
A top researcher for Nashville’s Meharry Medical College whose research colleagues were honored as Tennessean of the Year in 2009. His ongoing work in developing an odorless, undetectable cream that can destroy the HIV virus may one day help stop the disease’s spread around the globe. He will speak about medical strategies that work in concert with current accepted behaviors in populations at risk for HIV/AIDS.
Dr. Melvin N. Johnson
Dr. Johnson, the seventh President of Tennessee State University, was appointed to the post in 2005. He will weave a story of his own personal journey and leadership in healthcare initiatives with world-changing implications.
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Suzi Peel
Peel is the Executive Director of SPHERE: Simple Public Health & Environment Resources for Education and is a catalyst at the intersection of health, education, and new technologies for health communication. She will speak on how low literacy rates manifest in poverty and poor health outcomes and the new communication tools being developed to share life-saving information with those populations.
Molly Secours
A writer, speaker, filmmaker, activist and a national figure in health care reform. The Nashville Scene has identified Secours as one of "Nashville's most influential public intellectuals.” Secours will share insights gained while battling stage IV uterine cancer and the physical, emotional and spiritual transformation that occurred unexpectedly as a result.
Jill Sobule
A TED conference favorite--a rare breed of artist whose work is at once deeply personal and socially conscious, seriously funny and derisively tragic. Over five albums and a decade of recording, the Denver-born songwriter/guitarist/singer has tackled such topics as the death penalty, anorexia, shoplifting and adolescence to name a few.
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Minton Sparks
A storyteller, performer and mental health professional, Sparks is an adjunct professor of Psychology at Tennessee State University and shares her own brand of performance poetry nationwide.
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Emcee
Mark Montgomery
An Internet entrepreneur who strives to live his life on a few principles: dream big, fear nothing and enjoy the ride. He is well versed in the world of TED and has very successfully navigated the ups and downs of the technology revolution over the last 15 years, most recently with his former company, echo. He is currently an Entrepreneur in Residence at Claritas Capital, a Nashville venture capitalfirm, and serves as a board member for several technology companies in the area.
