w00t! ‘TEDMED Heads’ 2009 Descend on San Diego

And boldly ask:

Is the end of aging in sight?

The TEDMED conference agenda is jam packed with innovators in technology, education and design all focusing their considerable energies on the applications of genomics to real world problems in medicine including the ‘holy grail’ of extending human life, and reinventing the management, if not elimination, of disease.

TEDMED is an extension of the TED (Technology, Education & Design) Series founded by Richard Saul Wurman. Marc Hodosh is President of TEDMED, a conference he is re-launching right here in San Diego.

Previously Marc led the Archon X PRIZE for Genomics, a $10 million competition to inspire rapid and cost effective genome sequencing technology; which followed the highly successful $10 million Ansari Space X PRIZE.

With the publication of his first book in 1962 at the age of 26, Richard Saul Wurman, began the singular passion of his life: making information understandable. He chaired the International Design in Aspen in 1972, the first Federal Design Assembly in 1973, followed by the National AIA Convention in 1976, before creating and chairing TED conferences from 1984-2002.

Wurman created and chaired the TEDMED and eg2006 conferences. A B.A. and M.A. 1959 graduate with highest honors from the University of Pennsylvania, Mr. Wurman’s nearly half-century of achievements includes the publication of his best-selling book Information Anxiety and his award winning ACCESS Travel Guides.

To contextualize and perhaps frame the conference mindset, a key equation for ‘good health’ was outlined by Bill Davenhall, of ESRI, as follows:

Genetics + lifestyle + environment = risks

According to Alana B. Elias Kornfeld, of the HuffingtonPost: ‘Davenhall spoke about the missing piece to understanding personal health: the environment.’

For a summary of Day One at TEDMED 2009, see Kornfeld’s article TED MED 2009: The Missing Piece In Understanding Our Health.

Note: For the less fortunuate of us unable to attend this conference, you may follow the tweets, aka ‘digital footprint’ via many health tweeps participating in the event using the Twitter hashtag of #TEDMED.