5 powerful speeches that changed medicine for the better

This post is sponsored by MedCity ENGAGE.

Healthcare today is about new ideas, new players, new approaches and new tech. But in the past few years only a handful of visionaries have delivered to clearly outline where all this “new” is going.

These five talks truly changed the way I think about healthcare. The speeches are about more than the words. They were said at the right time and by the right people. I bet you heard some of them.

Think back on all the healthcare speeches you’ve heard. Which ones have stuck with you?

No. 1: Reed Tuckson, Digital Health Summit 2013

Dr. Reed Tuckson’s talk is less about what he said than how he taught everyone in that room to think about healthcare innovation.

After hearing him I was left with this point of view: a world of sensors and healthcare mobile apps won’t help much unless incentives change, we address our cubicle culture, and we change what American’s eat or, in many cases, have no choice but to eat.

No. 2: Dr. Victor Montori, 2013 MedCity ENGAGE

Dr. Victor Montori was pro-patient before pro-patient was cool. Montori’s ENGAGE talk was both blunt – “there’s a lot of research but most of it doesn’t matter” – and tangible: follow his outline of how to empower patients by giving them a card and letting them choose medicines based on the side effects they’ll accept.

(I am not the only one who liked Montori’s talk: Legendary health journo Dan Munro put the talk on his Forbes list of “Top Ten Healthcare Quotes of 2013.”)

No. 3: Sally Okun, TEDMED 2013

Consider this: Sally Okun was the first nurse ever to speak at TEDMED. Then consider what she said in her talk: “We silence the words and stories of those at the center of healthcare… ”

She meant patients. But I think, and Okun confirmed it for me soon after her speech, that it was appropriate for a nurse to urge healthcare to listen and speak to patients on their terms.

No. 4: Jeff Rohrs, Cleveland Clinic Patient Experience Summit 2014

Jeff Rohrs, an executive from ExactTarget, reminded me of how much healthcare can learn from outsiders. He walked in untethered to healthcare’s dogma and passionately talked about marketing techniques from other sectors and how they can help change medicine.

Rohrs’ talk is not online (I’ve included his presentation deck and much of his talk is based off his book, Audience). While he’s given similar talks, Rohrs doesn’t address healthcare in those speeches. That connection was what made the Patient Experience presentation so great.

No. 5: Dr. Eric Topol, 2011 mHealth Summit

This was Dr. Eric Topol’s coming-out party – his kairos, if you will. The Creative Destruction of Medicine officially hit the shelves that day, and so much of the vision he delivered that day is part of the common discourse for innovators. It’s also fascinating to listen to this and hear what’s changed in his discussions today.

The talk is almost five years old, but that is so long ago in Innovation Years I feel like it’s in a time capsule.

Topol’s first question to the audience: “How many of you are on Twitter?”

A bonus: I know when the next great healthcare talk will happen.

Healthcare’s next transformative talk happens at the 2015 version of MedCity ENGAGE on July 14-15 in Bethesda.

Buy your tickets and be part of the event.

Humana’s Dr. Roy Beveridge and patient-turned-entrepreneur Kezia Fitzgerald are among those to share their vision on the future of patient engagement.

Join us at ENGAGE to be part of the next agenda-setting discussion.

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