TEDxMcGill

Speakers

Speakers may not be confirmed. Check the event website for the latest lineup.

• Alexa Di Pede

  PhD Candidate in Neuroscience at McGill University

  Alexa is a graduate student at McGill University, enrolled in the Integrate Program in Neuroscience (IPN). Ever since witnessing the effects of Alzheimer’s within her family, she was inspired to chase the chemistry of connection through neuroscience. She studies how molecules, like nerve growth factor, keep neurons alive. She seeks a science where empathy meets evidence. Her talk investigates the idea that care is not just emotions, but molecular. She explains the process of nerve growth factor, and studies what happens when that signal falters—which is the early biology of Alzheimer's. She applies this rule beyond the brain, and connects the process to the way that empathy sustains research. Her key takeaway is that care is one of our most advanced forms of intelligence, allowing us to connect. Empathy is not a weakness, but a biological imperative. She wishes to inspire compassion in every experiment, clinic, and collaboration.

• Carla Billon

  BA Candidate in English at McGill University

  Carla is an undergraduate student at McGill University, pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in English Honours. Her honours thesis examines queerness in the work of straight male authors, such as Leonard Cohen, and examines how desire and ambiguity factor into their writing. As an autistic scholar, she often finds herself suspended in ways of being, which drives her curiosity about the gaps in between identities. Her talk will investigate the in-between space in Virgina Woolf’s writing—the dichotomy between her engagement with eugenic ideas and her deeply empathetic portrayals of disability. Her claim is that literature can both reinforce and resist the ideologies of its time. By studying the contradictions in Woolf’s fiction, she uncovers a world where beauty and bias coexist, and teaches us how to read the difference more ethically. Her takeaway is to leave the audience with a new understanding of the in-between as a space of meaning.

• Gabriel Blanco Gomez

  PhD Candidate in Neuroscience at McGill University

  Gabriel is a graduate student at McGill University, pursuing a PhD in Neuroscience at the Faculty of Medicine. His passion for the brain began in his high school French class when he noticed that mastering a new language was so easy for some, yet challenging for others. As part of his PhD thesis, he focuses on how humans understand language, separating them from other species. He scanned 150 infants to reach an answer and reached the conclusion that the ability for the human brain to multitask was the best predictor of language ability. His talk will discuss this further, diving deeper into the science of the brain, discussing the neurons firing in both the right and left hemispheres of the brain. He wants the audience to leave with a better understanding and awe for the brain, showing how language is humanity's true superpower.

• Jessica Huang

  BSc Candidate at McGill University

  Jessica is an undergraduate student at McGill University, pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacology, with a Philosophy minor. She works at the Centre of Genomics and Policy in health policy and bioethics research and has helped curate architectural exhibitions for McGill Rare Books. Her talk investigates epistemology and our quest for truth. She argues for a continuation of Renaissance polymathy in the modern age. Polymathy takes the ideology that art and science are not separate, but inform one another. It is a holistic approach to knowledge that has since been largely abandoned. She experiences this tension firsthand, with her science and philosophy courses both discounting one another. Her key takeaway is to encourage interdisciplinary thinking in an age of increasing fragmentation and polarization. Embracing polymathy begins with cultivating a sense of curiosity, openness, and humility towards unfamiliar knowledge.

• Madison Hughes

  MSc Candidate in Epidemiology at McGill University

  Madison is a graduate student at McGill University, pursuing an MSc in Epidemiology. She is a former national level gymnast, but left the sport after enduring abuse from a long-time coach. This experience inspired her talk where she will be talking about existing between a world where her whole identity was defined by a past sport, and the journey to discover herself beyond that sport. She will examine what happens when athletes retire and discuss tools and strategies to navigate this space of self-discovery. She also plans to reimagine what sport would look like if athletes were encouraged to exist as people beyond their narrow athletic identity. Her key takeaway is a reflection on how sports culture can limit personal growth, and the importance of redefining success beyond athletic performance. She wishes to create a culture where high performance and personal development coexist, long after the final competition ends.

• Michael Saunders

  Science and Business Student at The University of Waterloo

  Michael Saunders is a fourth year Science and Business student at the University of Waterloo. He has roots in Turks and Caicos as well as Guyana, leading to him being passionate in how small nations like those in the Caribbean can transform vulnerability into opportunity. Michael will discuss how the Caribbean Islands have lived for centuries between worlds: between slavery of global carbon emissions, yet face the severest consequences. Michaels main takeaway is that the Caribbeans is more than just a destination, it is a community of thinkers, builders, and dreamers standing on the frontlines of the climate crisis.

• Rotshennon:ni Two-Axe

  Medical Student at McGill University

  Rotshennon:ni Two-Axe (meaning he is happy), is a second-year medical student at McGill University who is a part of the turtle clan from the Kanien’kehá:ka nation in Kahnawake. Outside of being a medical student at McGill, Rotshennon:ni is a paramedic in his community and is part of a year-long kanien’kéha language program that is land, culture, and healing-based. His talk will bring together two worlds of medicine, the Indigenous and Western understandings of medicine. In Western medicine, illness is often something to be diagnosed and treated; in Indigenous knowledge, healing is about restoring balance between body, mind, spirit, and community. He wants the audience to leave with an understanding of what it truly means to heal, beyond the purely physical state.