TEDxBasel 2021 Radical Reframe - Speakers

Anna Lembke

Anna Lembke, MD, is a professor in the department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine. She recently appeared on the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma, an unvarnished look at the impact of social media on our lives. Her forthcoming book, Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence (Dutton/Penguin Random House, August 2021) explores how to moderate compulsive overconsumption, including of digital products, in a world infused with the message that feeling good is the highest good.

Dominique de Quervain

Dominique is a neuroscientist and professor at the University of Basel. He is interested in the effects of stress hormones on memory in health and disease. His lab translated basic findings on the effects of glucocorticoids on memory to patients with PTSD and phobias. His lab also develops VR/AR apps to help people overcome their phobic fears. Furthermore, he is interested in the genetic and epigenetic basis of human memory and in the identification of novel drug targets.

Ravi Rao

Ravi Rao is a creative writer, speaker, and facilitator who has worked with organizational leaders in five continents. His central mission - to improve the state of emotional connection in the world - came from a merging of interests in theater and business leadership. He earned three graduate degrees before the age of 29, but considers his original poetry and stories to be his greatest accomplishments. He is passionate about film, American sports, and diversity.

Anna Iarotska

Anna Iarotska is the CEO and Co-founder of Robo Wunderkind, an educational technology company from Vienna. Since 2015, Anna has been a strong advocate for the digitalization of schools, promoting the importance of 21st-century skills in education worldwide. Anna is driven by her vision of transforming the way children learn, and together with her team, she creates products that help shape the next generation of scientists and inventors. Before founding Robo Wunderkind and entering the startup world, Anna worked in consulting and international project management. Anna is graduate of London School of Economics. Originally from Ukraine, she lived and worked in Germany, UK, the USA, and China, before settling down in Austria.

Winnie Tsang

Winnie Tsang is a mission-focused entrepreneur, business strategist, and social advocate. Compelled by the plight of loneliness that has been exacerbated by COVID, Winnie left a traditional business career to co-found Joy Can Do, an entrepreneurial venture that is focused on building scalable tools to cultivate empathy, and advance whole person wellness of older adults and their partners-in-care. How might we create moments of play that replenishes the spirit, and invites others into our caring partnership? We all know "it takes a village" to care for someone, and Joy Can Do is one path to bringing that circle together in a meaningful and practical way.

Bret Simner

Bret Simner was born in New York City and has lived in Basel for over 17 years. His education includes bachelor and master’s degrees from the Juilliard School and a doctorate from Stony Brook University. His eclectic work experience ranges from milking cows and bailing hay to playing music on stages such as Carnegie Hall and Versailles. When not teaching music at the Swiss International School, Bret spends his time trying to keep up with his daughter’s scooting and his son’s fastball.

Thea Zander-Schellenberg

Dr. Thea Zander-Schellenberg is intrigued by human thinking and reasoning. As a research scientist, she investigates how people form judgments and arrive at decisions. In this spirit, the dynamic interplay of intuition and reflection is one of her main research topics. She is currently leading a SNSF Ambizione research project on intuition in schizophrenia at the Department of Psychology at the University of Basel. Her academic background in psychology and cognitive neuroscience form the basis of her scientific expertise and her deep fascination for science.

Matt Reynolds

Matthew, originally from the United States, graduated from university in California and then pursued a professional volleyball career in both Denmark and Ukraine. After three successful seasons he began teaching mathematics at a boarding school in Austria, and has since taught at international schools in Brazil and Switzerland, helping his students see the beauty and usefulness of mathematical thinking.

Horacio de la Iglesia

Horacio de la Iglesia finished his undergraduate studies in Biology at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. He got his PhD in Neuroscience and Behavior at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he studied the neuroanatomical interactions between the master circadian clock of mammals and the brain centers that control reproduction. He then continued his research on the neural control of circadian rhythms as a Postdoctoral Fellow and as an Instructor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He was also an Instructor at Harvard University. Dr. de la Iglesia joined the University of Washington Department of Biology in 2003, where he teaches and continues his research on biological rhythms and sleep.

Shawn Harris

Shawn Harris is an artist and musician who lives and works in Half Moon Bay, California. His first picture book, Her Right Foot, by Dave Eggers, was the recipient of seven starred reviews. He is also the illustrator of Dave Eggers's What Can a Citizen Do? and Colin Meloy's Everyone's Awake. Have You Ever Seen a Flower? is his authorial debut.