From a neurosurgeon and social media influencer, to a Paralympic gold medalist with brittle bone disease, to an Atlanta artist whose work captures historic moments in scraps of fabric, the TEDxEmory talks on Feb. 22 were full of surprises, insights and inspiration.
TEDx talks began four decades ago as conferences filled with short, dynamic talks about “ideas worth spreading.” In addition to the main TED conferences and online platform (TED.com), it expanded to more than 3,000 independent TEDx events held annually in more than 170 countries.
TEDxEmory is student-led and began in 2010. This year’s speakers addressed the theme “uncharted,” and included a mix of athletes, doctors, artists and thought leaders, along with Emory faculty, alumni and students.
“TEDxEmory invites you to step into the unknown — not as something to fear, but as an open space for possibility,” said Neha Bajaj, the 2025 TEDxEmory president, when addressing the crowd gathered in the Emory Student Center. “Whether in science, art, technology or personal growth, the unknown is where innovation thrives and new ideas emerge.”
Barbara Krauthamer, dean of Emory College of Arts and Sciences and Charles Howard Candler Professor of History, opened the event, saying, “A liberal arts education should instill in you a real appreciation of the power of ideas.”
A full range of powerful ideas were on display during the talks, as speakers shared their journeys, passions, motivations, accomplishments — and the stories that made them who they are.
Atlanta artist Dawn Williams Boyd creates narrative “cloth paintings” that chronicle seminal moments in American history, past and present.
“If we don’t learn from the mistakes of our fathers, and their fathers, and their fathers ... all of recorded history has been a waste of time,” said Boyd, whose work is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Equal Justice Initiative and the High Museum of Art.
Betsy Grunch, a neurosurgeon in Gainesville, Georgia, focuses on minimally invasive spine techniques and advancing the field of neurotrauma; she also is an influencer (@ladyspinedoc) with 1.1 million Instagram followers. She spoke on authenticity in medicine. “Embracing your true self as a medical professional positively impacts patient care and professional fulfillment,” she said.
Crowd favorite Mckenzie Coan, a Paralympic gold medalist and ten-time world champion in swimming, spoke about developing her “unbreakable mindset.”
Coan was diagnosed with osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle bone disease) when she was only 19 days old, and doctors predicted she would never sit, stand, walk or talk. Despite breaking more than 100 bones, she has defied expectations and lives a life beyond limitations. “This allows me to view challenges as things that have happened for me, rather than to me,” she said.
The chief sustainability officer of Atlanta, Chandra Farley, spoke about building a “good energy” future that is also just. And Tim Spicer, director at PeerForward and a “Survivor”season 46 contestant, talked about embracing failure to foster success.
Emory was well represented in the speaker lineup.
Caius Gibeily, a doctoral student in the neurosciences at Emory and the Marcus Autism Center, spoke on the "contradictions inherent in how we treat other animals." Lisa Reisman, an alum of Emory’s Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing and founder of Complete Care at Home, encouraged the inclusion of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities into society, whether through formal or informal paths. Ravi Parikh, an oncologist at Winship Cancer Institute and associate professor at Emory, investigates how doctors, patients and policymakers can use AI to improve decision-making and promote equitable health care. Josh Luber, a three-time Emory alum (BA, MBA, JD) and founder of two multi-billion-dollar companies — StockX and Fanatics Collectibles — broke down supply, demand and the “hype” economy.
And Rashmi Raveendran, the daughter of Sri Lankan refugees and a senior at Emory studying anthropology and quantitative sciences, talked about cultivating empathy. “Why don’t people care enough?” she asked. “We, as humans, don’t know how to. We must work together to create a more active practice of empathy.”
Raveendran encouraged anyone thinking of putting their hat in the ring for next year’s talks to embrace their inner TED.
“I have always loved public speaking and dreamed of speaking at a TED event,” she said. “TEDxEmory's work made this opportunity possible, and they helped instill confidence that allowed me to feel really excited when speaking. I was nervous but once I started, it was all okay.”
Photos provided by Rashmi Raveendran and TEDxEmory.