Thank You For Watching My TEDx Talk

My TEDxBuffalo Talk, entitled "Fighting the Pandemic of Disinformation" is Available to Watch!

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Bucket list item/life goal, achieved! What an educational, rigorous, yet overall cool experience this was! I got the opportunity to be a TEDxBuffalo speaker, discussing the pandemic of misinformation that is so deeply affecting our country and its healthcare system. It was such a cool opportunity to stand up on this stage and be vulnerable while calling folks to action.

I’m ashamed to admit that I didn’t even know we had a TEDxBuffalo event, let alone that it has been occurring annually (except for 2020) for over a decade. A friend of mine from college encouraged me to apply. I hesitated for only a moment, looking over at my then-one-month-old son, and then my wonderful wife, as she so often does, encouraged me to apply.

The preparation was intense! We had multiple meetings over the course of a couple of months as we continued to refine and rehearse our talks. Memorizing a 10-18 minute talk is no joke! I cannot tell you how many times my son heard me going through my talk - not understanding a word of it, but thankfully he seemed to enjoy the sound of my voice.

Reliving some of my memories for this talk was tough. I recently realized I might have some level of trauma from 2020-21, the frustration of which has fueled me and my efforts to combat misinformation, but also has led to points like the story with which I begin the talk. The vulnerability of sharing that moment was a foundation of my talk, and something I think more physicians need to be comfortable doing in appropriate venues, maybe not to the same extent but just to crack the walls a bit sometimes. Why is that important? I mean, for that you should listen to the talk. ;)

Huge shout out to the TEDxBuffalo committee and crew. Our speaking coaches challenged us and helped us shape our talks to be everything we wanted them to be and more. My coach, Amberly, was so great about keeping me within parameters (for example, not getting too partisan, which is sometimes tough for me) but also encouraging me to think beyond my initial ideas and reminding me to bring myself to the talk, even as I wanted to address certain broad topics. She introduced me to David McRaney’s book How Minds Change, a key influence for one of the sections of the talk.

Also shout out to Dr. G Camelia Adams (psychiatrist and professor at University of Saskatchewan, author of the study on the pandemic’s toll on physicians’ mental health), Dr. Blair Golden (hospitalist and author of the chair study I reference in the talk), Jamil Zaki (author of Hope for Cynics, which influenced a different section of the talk), Drs. Vineet Arora, Eve Bloomgarden, and Shikha Jain (friends of mine and authors of the paper on HCWs addressing misinformation), and Dr. David Scales (who authored the paper featuring the term “infodemic”).

As hard as parts of it were to relive, creating this talk was fun. It was really exciting to craft this, knowing that it would be reaching a local and possibly a wider internet audience, and knowing that we would be providing insight into our professions and our lives that maybe many of them might not otherwise have. There’s a level of intimacy there, even for those of us who were not talking about our personal lives. We all came in a bit guarded but as we got to know each other more and became more comfortable, the talks grew more of a pulse and thus more inviting.

To my fellow speakers, five people that I otherwise would not have met in my daily life, it was amazing to meet all of you, and to learn from you. You are all so funny and creative, and so masterful at conveying a passionate message through stories and information. From personal journeys after a fundamental change to one’s identity, to overcoming the odds and statistics, to using one’s hobby to redirect life, to creating better spaces, to learning from history in order to protect the future, the talks were incredible. I look forward to future endeavors and collaborations.

To the live audience - you absolutely helped us elevate our talks to the next level. There’s something to be said for performing something live rather than simply practicing, and an enthused crowd goes so far to make it better. I know that from playing music, but it genuinely helped in actually giving this talk, too!

And to any of you who watch this - thank you. We have been IMMENSELY excited to share these talks with you, and now that they are uploaded…don’t plan on us shutting up about them anytime soon, haha.

Link to the talk:

https://youtu.be/foaTUq40Dmc?si=K6wApYG0BUXlRbC_