TEDMED convenes at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
Lois Holzman will be among 50 “Challenge Advocates” at TEDMED 2012 at the Kennedy Center, April 10-13th. Advocates will lobby the 1000+ participants around the “50 Great Challenges in Health and Medicine.” Holzman’s specific challenge: Deciding What’s Normal. READ MORE
Here’s how it’s described:
“The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual is about to be revised for the fifth time, redefining what counts as mental pathology and what doesn’t. There’s already controversy about making it harder to diagnose Asperger’s syndrome, and making it easier to count grief as a treatable “condition.” But it’s not only psychiatry where the boundaries of normal will shift. They also shift with blood pressure levels and cholesterol levels, to name several major parameters. (The metrics themselves don’t change — just the ranges that are considered “normal” readings.) These definitions have huge implications in terms of insurance coverage and reimbursement, pharmaceutical development, and our very sense of ourselves. Who should decide what’s “normal” — and how?”
The Great Challenges Program at TEDMED is about advancing cutting-edge ideas and unusual perspectives that can help shape the future of health and medicine. Proceedings are remote simulcast to medical schools, research institutions, teaching hospitals, universities and state and federal agencies.
