How do you turn hope into action? A doctor and a public health expert answer | David Fajgenbaum and Celina de Sola
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hu. In the face of immense challenges, how do you hold on to hope while still being realistic about the work that needs to be done? In this new episode of TED Intersections, our original series that features unscripted conversations between speakers and experts taking on subjects at the intersection of their expertise. Public health expert Selena De Sola sits down with immunology researcher David Fagenbaum to explore how they continue to move forward with the exploration and implementation of bold, life-saving ideas, even in the face of setbacks. They discuss why it's so important to keep an open mind and share how learning to hold space for both hope and grief has made them more successful in their work.
I feel like you can hold hope and despair at the same time, right? Like it's okay to hold those things because if you're trying to be hopeful, you can't really always let go of the sadness and the despair and the frustration. So it's like, how do we hold those simultaneously in a way that enables us to keep working and keep learning and collaborating? Yeah.
I'd love to hear about your work. What are you working on? What are you doing?
Sure. So I'm on a mission to save and improve lives with the drugs that we already have. We use an AI platform to scan across the world's knowledge of every drug and every disease to find out new uses for the medicines that we already have.
That's amazing.
Then tell me about yourself.
So actually, we were founded in El Salvador. We're an organization that was founded in El Salvador. We're trying to create systems that are more trauma-informed to make sure, especially in context of violence, but to make sure so kids and families can navigate the adversity they face and thrive instead of just struggling with the impacts of stress and trauma on their lives. And we work in public schools, too, to make sure that those schools are safe spaces where they can learn and receive the support they need.
What is it about the system that made you really want to tackle this problem?
think that we realized that we didn't really see that most people, just society in general, but also teachers, nurses, doctors, the systems we were working with, didn't have an understanding or the necessary understanding of the impacts of stress and trauma. So we wanted to figure out how we could provide that knowledge, those skills, so everyone that children and young people and families would interact with in these systems, education, health, law enforcement, would be able to do that, to provide a service that is more trauma-informed and understands why people behave the way they do and how we can change the way we interact.
And I was reading about your work. You've had such an incredible impact. It's just amazing.
Likewise. I'd love to hear about you.
How do you hold on to hope while being realistic about challenges?
I read about your story, and I'd love for you to tell me a little bit more about it in person.
Sure, yeah. So I went from being this healthy third-year med student at Penn, where I know we both were students, to becoming critically ill. My organs started to shut down, my liver, my kidneys, my bone marrow, my heart, my lungs. And I went from being this totally healthy med student to being critically ill. And so 15 years ago was when I went into the hospital and the ICU. And... Nearly died five times over the course of a three-year period from this horrible disease called Castleman disease before eventually getting a diagnosis, getting to receive chemotherapy, and then discovering a drug that wasn't made for my disease that could save my life. A drug that was made for organ transplant rejection I thought could maybe help.
treat my disease. And I started testing it on myself.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–3:47
2
How do you hold on to hope while being realistic about challenges?
3:47–10:11
3
What personal experiences shaped the guests' missions?
10:11–10:29
4
How can repurposing existing drugs save lives?
10:29–11:10
5
What role does trauma-informed care play in public health?
11:10–32:53
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from TED Talks Daily
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