Dr. Steven Kussin to Participate in TEDMED Talks

Utica Phoenix Reports

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has tapped  Phoenix columnist,  Dr. Steven Kussin, to be a panelist on their TEDMED talks, regarding the subject of medical communication as part of their Great Challenges in Medicine program.

Dr. Kussin has been chosen to join a team which  includes 5 other medical professionals whose work involves medical communication, including: Dr. Robert Arnold, Director of the Institute on Doctor-Patient Communication at the University of Pittsburgh Medical School; Dr. Selma Caal, Research Scientist Child Trends; John Cox, President and CEO of Visible Health Inc.; Barbara Ficarra, RN, BSN, MPA, Founder of Health in 30; and Dr. Joseph Kvedar, Founder and Director of the Center for Connected Health (with Partners Healthcare).

TEDMED is a community of respected thinkers and doers in a variety of medical and non-medical fields – from doctors and researchers to technology experts, business and government leaders, and many more.

Regardless of their backgrounds, they all have one thing in common: they are passionate about imagining and creating a better future for health and medicine.

Panelists participate in an online “virtual discussion panel” and contributing to the online community beginning in September 2012 to April 2013.

Team Members work remotely, answer 10 crowd sourced questions posed by the TEDMED community relating to their challenge. In essence, share their perspective on the complexities that fuel this Great Challenge. Their responses can be diverse formats, from recording responses in 1-2 minute short videos, SlideShare or PowerPoint responses; or even a live telephone interview with oneof TEDMED’s staff that is audio-recorded for podcast.

All Team Members’ answers are posted on the Great Challenges websiteto represent different disciplines and perspectives.

Global TEDMED community contributes their own views, questions and comments, posting them to the Great Challenges website. Team Members monitor the ongoing conversation and may respond as they are able.  They also participate in 2 live web-based events (each one hour long), most likely Twitter Q&A sessions. One session will take place this fall and one  in the first quarter of 2013. For more information on TEDMED, visit www.tedmed.com/greatchallenges

Dr. Kussin is the author of the “Doctor, Your Patient Will See You Now: Gaining the Upper Hand in Your Medical Care” which was reviewed by The New York Times, and was among Booklist’s Online top 10 Health & Wellness books of 2011.  Dr. Kussin also has a website:  http://medicaladvocate.com.

By Richard