Have you ever taken a “selfie”? Likely so – we all take photos of ourselves and we share the data with friends. But what about a medical “selfie?" What if it could save your life or millions of others?

For Steven Keating, his medical “selfie” saved his life through the accidental discovery of a baseball-sized cancerous brain tumor found in a voluntary academic scan. With his tumor removed through brain surgery in 2014, Keating is an advocate for open patient data and curiosity. He believes the future of healthcare is a "share" button, where patients are empowered with data access, generation, and interaction. This form of patient-centric healthcare can provide critical benefits to participants, doctors, and medical science. In this talk, get ready for awake brain surgery videos, a patient holding his own brain on stage, medical "selfies" down to the DNA level, 3D printing of tumors, protons shooting at millions of MPH, and many more curiosities!

Steven Keating is a doctoral candidate at MIT who is developing novel platforms for 3D printing buildings, synthetic biological fabrication, and designed growth of the next generation of products. From gears to genomes, he is interested in exploring new design possibilities and open health data networks. Calgary is his hometown and he is invigorated by creativity, design, and maple syrup.


This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx