Plenary Speakers
These nationally known thought leaders offer fresh perspectives on topics such as achieving peak performance, understanding the political determinants of health and facilitating healthy communication. Attend their sessions and leave enlightened, inspired and ready for new challenges!
Wednesday, April 26
The Power of Range: The Secret to Success in Any Domain
David Epstein
New York Times best-selling author and science writer, David Epstein has made it his mission to uncover the keys to achieving high performance in any profession or fast-changing environment—knowledge that has become essential to educating, developing and retaining the workforce of the future. Merging stories from the worlds of sports, business, medicine and education, Epstein sheds light on the paths to peak performance. From how to best prepare for our specialized world to how to optimally incorporate AI into our workplaces, Epstein unpacks the science of success and will leave you with actionable takeaways to improve how you live, work, teach, parent and prepare for the future.
His New York Times best-seller, The Sports Gene, investigated the balance of nature and nurture in developing a skill. His latest book, #1 New York Times bestseller Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World, examines the world’s top performers, from professional athletes to artists, scientists, entrepreneurs and Nobel laureates.
Epstein’s two TED Talks have amassed more than 11 million views. He has spoken around the world on the science of high performance and novel uses (and misuses) of data. He has master’s degrees in environmental science and journalism from Columbia University and was twice NCAA All-East as an 800-meter runner.
Thursday, April 27
The Political Determinants of Health & How We Can Change Them
Dr. Meta Christy Plenary:
Daniel E. Dawes, JD
AACOM is pleased to announce that Educating Leaders 2023 will host the second annual “Dr. Meta Christy Presentation” in honor of Meta Christy, DO, the first Black osteopathic physician.
Daniel E. Dawes, JD, is a trailblazer and nationally respected voice in the health equity movement. His scholarship and leadership, particularly the innovative political determinants of health framework that he pioneered, have resulted in increased policies and laws prioritizing health equity. By tackling upstream determinants of health, he has ventured into such uncharted territory as the intersection between equity and the social and political determinants of health to change the course of domestic and global policies for the better. He was an instrumental figure in developing and negotiating landmark federal policies such as the Mental Health Parity Act, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act and the Affordable Care Act’s health equity-focused provisions. He was also the principal investigator for the nation’s first health equity tracker, co-founder of the Health Equity Leadership and Exchange Network (HELEN) and co-principal investigator of the HHS National COVID-19 Resiliency Network.
Dawes currently serves as Senior Vice President, Global Health & Executive Director of the Global Health Equity Institute at Meharry Medical College. Dawes is also the Founding Dean of the School of Global Public Health at Meharry, the first school of public health at a historically black institution. Prior to that he served as executive director of the Satcher Health Leadership Institute at Morehouse School of Medicine and is a professor of health law, policy and management. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and an elected fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine. He serves as an advisor to The White House COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force, an appointed member of the CDC’s Advisory Committee to the Director and co-chair of the CDC’s Health Equity Working Group, as well as the NIH’s National Advisory Council for Nursing Research.
He is the author of two groundbreaking books, 150 Years of ObamaCare and The Political Determinants of Health, both published by Johns Hopkins University Press.
Friday, April 28
Celeste Headlee
Celeste Headlee is an internationally recognized journalist and radio host, professional speaker and author of bestselling books We Need To Talk: How To Have Conversations That Matter and Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving. Her latest publication is Speaking of Race: Why Everyone Needs to Talk About Racism and How to Do It. Covering topics from communication to burnout to race, Celeste draws from her career in public media to teach others how to facilitate conversation and bring us all closer together.
In her 20-year career in public radio, Celeste has been the Executive Producer of On Second Thought at Georgia Public Broadcasting and anchored programs including Tell Me More, Talk of the Nation, Here and Now, All Things Considered and Weekend Edition. She also served as co-host of the national morning news show, The Takeaway, and anchored presidential coverage in 2012 for PBS World Channel. Celeste is a regular guest host on NPR and American Public Media, serves as an advisory board member for ProCon.org and The Listen First Project and received the 2019 Media Changemaker Award. She is the host of Newsweek’s “Debate” podcast and of “Women Amplified,” a podcast from the Conferences for Women, the largest network of women’s conferences in the nation, drawing more than 50,000 people to its annual events.
Her TEDx Talk, 10 Ways to Have a Better Conversation, has been viewed over 34 million times. Close to 50,000 talks have been given at 10,000 events since the TED program launched in 2009, and Celeste’s talk is one of the 10 most-watched talks posted on TED’s homepage.
Celeste is also the president and CEO of Headway DEI, a non-profit that works to bring racial justice and equity to journalism and media through targeted training and interventions, and she serves on the board for the National Center for Race Amity.