Keynotes
Opening Keynote
Making meaningful connects in the ’New Normal’
Wednesday, Jan. 22
9 - 10:15am EST
Celeste Headlee is an award-winning journalist and radio host, professional speaker and author of the bestselling book “We Need to Talk: How to Have Conversations That Matter” and the recently released “Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving”. Her TEDx Talk, 10 Ways to Have a Better Conversation, has been viewed over 23 million times. Close to 50,000 talks have been given at 10,000 events since the TED program launched in 2009. Headlee’s talk is one of the 10 most-watched talks posted on TED’s homepage.
In her 20-year career in public radio, Headlee has been the executive producer of On Second Thought at Georgia Public Radio, and anchored programs including Tell Me More, Talk of the Nation, All Things Considered, and Weekend Edition. She also served as co-host of the national morning news show, The Takeaway, from PRI and WNYC, and anchored presidential coverage in 2012 for PBS World Channel. As an NPR host and journalist, Headlee has interviewed hundreds of people from all walks of life. Through her work, she has learned the true power of conversation and its ability to both bridge gaps or deepen wounds. In a time when conversations are often minimized to a few words in a text message and lack of meaningful communication and dialogue abounds, she sheds a much-needed light on the lost and essential art of conversation.
Headlee is a communication and human nature expert, reclaiming common humanity and finding well- being. She frequently provides insight and commentary on what is good for all humans and what is bad for us, focusing on the best research in neuro and social science to increase understanding of how we relate with one another and can work together in beneficial ways in our workplaces, neighborhoods, communities and homes. As a mixed-race journalist of black and Jewish descent, Celeste also speaks candidly about how to converse on race and other difficult subjects. People respond to her because she connects the dots, explaining the “why” of our behavior in clear terms and providing actionable strategies for doing things differently.
Headlee is a member of Arianna Huffington’s Thrive Global Thought Leader group and is a regular host of Women Amplified, a Conferences for Women podcast. She serves as an advisory board member for ProCon.org and The Listen First Project, and in 2019, received the Media Changemaker Award. Headlee lives in the DC area with rescue dog, Samus.
Closing Keynote
Transformative nature of collaborations
Thursday, Jan. 23
10:30 - 11:30am EST
Dimitri T. Azar, MD, MBA, FARVO is president and CEO of Twenty/Twenty Therapeutics. Prior to that, he served as the senior director of Ophthalmic Innovations (including diagnostic, therapeutic, drug delivery and surgical innovations) at Alphabet Verily Life Sciences (2017-2020), as an independent non-executive director of Novartis AG (2012-2019) and as Distinguished Professor of Ophthalmology and Dean of the University of Illinois College of Medicine (2011 to 2018). Previously, he was professor of ophthalmology and director of the Cornea and Refractive Surgery Services at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and Harvard Medical School.
Azar is an internationally recognized ophthalmic surgeon and prolific researcher. He has been named one of The Best Doctors in America and one of the Castle Connolly Top Doctors in America annually since 1994. He has held multiple committee positions with the American Academy of Ophthalmology and was a board member and vice president of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology. Azar is a member of the American Ophthalmological Association and sits on the Board of Trustees of the Chicago Ophthalmological Society and the Chicago Medical Society.
He has published 450 papers and chapters, 22 textbooks and 38 patents. His work on Matrix Metalloproteinases in wound healing and angiogenesis has been continuously funded by the NIH R01 award since 1993. Azar has received multiple leadership awards, including the Lans Distinguished Award from the International Society of Refractive Surgery and the Barraquer and Lifetime Achievement Awards from the American Academy of Ophthalmology. He holds a medical degree from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, an Honorary MA from Harvard University and an Executive MBA from the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business.
