Mark Brender is the Executive Director of Partners in Health Canada, which was founded in 1987 to deliver health care to the mountainous Central Plateau region of Haiti. Partners in Health's mission is "to bring the benefits of modern medical science to those most in need, and to serve as an antidote to despair", and over the years has spread to other regions of the world in addition to Haiti.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)