TEDMED and Top Medical Research Institutions to Create One Simultaneous, Annual "Live Event" On 7 Stages Around The World

WASHINGTON, Jan. 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- TEDMED, the annual multi-disciplinary gathering where leaders from all sectors of society come together to explore the promise of technology and potential of human achievement in health and medicine, announced today it will hold its annual gathering across up to 7 stages simultaneously via digitally linked, permanent host cities around the world.  Concurrently, TEDMED also announced that it has selected University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) as its first medical research institution partner. 

TEDMED's decision to produce its annual gathering as a simultaneous, worldwide event connecting 7 cities is driven by the rapid and accelerating pace of change in health and medicine.  Scientists worldwide are becoming more connected, patients worldwide are becoming more engaged and fresh ideas and solutions are coming from bright minds around the world.

TEDMED will convene its first live, multi-city event this coming September 10-12, 2014, with the San Francisco Bay Area joining TEDMED's current location, Washington, DC at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.  TEDMED will announce additional live stage locations around the world in 2015.

"There has never been a greater need for an inclusive worldwide gathering that showcases, supports and sparks innovative thinking and imaginative new approaches to health and medicine," commented Jay Walker, Curator of TEDMED.  "Soon the whole world will come together for one week every year at TEDMED, where all will be invited to experience and share the best of what humankind can achieve in service of health and medicine."

UCSF was selected as TEDMED's first medical research institution partner because it is one of the premier health science universities worldwide. It is home to some of America's top-ranked graduate schools of Medicine, Pharmacy, Dentistry and Nursing, and two top-tier hospitals:  UCSF Medical Center and UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital.  Its preeminent biomedical research enterprise receives more competitive funding from the U.S. National Institutes of Health than any other public university, and its focus on translating that science into public benefit has generated more U.S. life sciences patents than any other individual university campus in the world.

Instrumental in bringing TEDMED to the San Francisco Bay Area and establishing UCSF as TEDMED's medical research institution partner is outgoing Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann, MD, MPH, who has recently been named CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.  During her tenure as Chancellor, Dr. Desmond-Hellmann has harnessed the spirit of innovation and collaboration of both UCSF and San Francisco to establish the university as a convener of the most innovative and transformative minds in the health sciences today. 

"We at UCSF are excited to partner with TEDMED in its launch of a worldwide initiative that will inspire new thinking and collaborations to impact health and medicine worldwide," said Desmond-Hellmann.

The City of San Francisco was carefully selected as the location to stage TEDMED simultaneously as a single unified program with Washington, DC.  Using co-equal venues creates opportunities for speakers and innovators from around the world to share their best thinking and innovations in health and medicine.

Under the leadership of Mayor Edwin M. Lee, San Francisco is rapidly becoming the world's leading center of biomedical research.  The San Francisco Bay Area will remain a worldwide host in subsequent years with UCSF as TEDMED's ongoing institutional partner.

"As a global leader in life sciences research and world-class clinical care, San Francisco is the perfect location for TEDMED," said Mayor Lee. "San Francisco is a place where people from all over the world come together to share ideas, collaborate and work together to find cures and prevent disease; one of the greatest challenges of our generation."

To ensure that the annual event showcases the very latest in innovative science and medical progress, TEDMED will partner with additional leading medical research institutions and financial supporters in other host cities in China, Japan, the Middle East and Western Europe, which will be announced at a future date. 

TEDMED has taken place at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC for the past two years (2012 and 2013 events).  Hosting the event in the nation's capital has enabled TEDMED to attract America's leading public officials in health and medicine, including the Directors of the NIH, FDA and CDC; the U.S. Surgeon General; the Chairman of the U.S. Institute of Medicine and many other leading national figures.

TEDMED's Vision:

TEDMED's final list of 7 host cities will represent the latest medical innovation, technology, research, and treatment.  For the thousands of people participating live in these 7 cities and for millions more watching online in more than 150 countries, each year TEDMED will unite a global community in the only simultaneous, worldwide gathering focused on creating a better future for humanity's health.

TEDMED's history and story are available online here.

ABOUT TEDMED

"What would happen if the whole world came together for one week every year to focus on what's new and important in health and medicine?"  Bringing together doctors, patients, policymakers, technologists, educators, students, media, researchers, innovators, and many others, TEDMED will share the best of what the world has to offer in service of health and medicine.

TEDMED, LLC is an independent organization. The TED logo is used under an exclusive license from the nonprofit TED conference. Jay Walker has served as the Curator of TEDMED since 2011. Walker is also the founder of Priceline.com.  For more information, please visit www.TEDMED.com.

ABOUT UC SAN FRANCISCO

UCSF is the nation's leading university exclusively focused on health. It is dedicated to transforming health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care. It includes top-ranked graduate schools of dentistry, medicine, nursing and pharmacy; a graduate division with world-renowned programs in the biological sciences, a preeminent biomedical research enterprise and two top-tier hospitals, UCSF Medical Center and UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital. Please visit www.ucsf.edu.

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