More than 50 speakers from the University of Arizona and 250 overall will take part in TENWEST Impact Festival, which runs Oct. 11-20 and is expected to draw about 15,000 local, regional and national attendees to downtown Tucson to discuss innovative solutions to the world’s social, environmental and economic issues.
"I am excited that the University of Arizona has made a long-term commitment to support the TENWEST Festival," says President Robert C. Robbins, MD. "Not only do we wholeheartedly believe in the vision and mission of this community-driven impact effort, but we also see the incredible economic, social and cultural impact that this festival can have for Tucson."
The festival has a theme of “Everyone has a role. Discover yours.” Through 10 days of exhibitions, talks, and interactive experiences, national experts and local heroes seek to inspire the ideas and facilitate the connections that will facilitate solutions and empower everyone to act.
Among the speakers and related events, see:
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Health Sciences Workforce Development | Monday, Oct. 14, 10-10:45 a.m., Tucson Convention Center, Graham Meeting Room — Heather Carter, EdD, an Arizona State Senator (District 15) and Assistant Professor of Practice/Associate Director, UA Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health/Arizona Center for Rural Health; and Daniel Derksen, MD, Associate Vice President for Health Equity, Outreach, & Interprofessional Activities, UA Health Sciences
■ One Health Program | Monday, Oct. 14, 11-11:45 a.m., Tucson Convention Center, Graham Meeting Room — Kerry Cooper, PhD, Assistant Professor, Animal and Comparative Biomedical Sciences, CALS; Jean Mclain, PhD, Assistant Dean for Faculty Advancement, CALS; Kristen Pogreba-Brown, PhD, MPH, Assistant Professor, Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health; Marc Verhougstraete, PhD, Assistant Professor of Community, Environment & Policy, Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health
■ Digital Health Innovations | Monday, Oct. 14, 2-2:45 p.m., Tucson Convention Center, Graham Meeting Room — Emmanuel Bukenya, Co-Founder, Anuel Energy; Cindy Jordan, CEO, Pyx Health; and Nirav Merchant, Director, Data Science Institute (Data7), Co-Principal Investigator, CyVerse, University of Arizona
■ Creating Spaces for Healthy Aging: Measuring Health, Wellbeing & Performance Non-Invasively – From Molecules to Environment | Friday, Oct. 18, 10 a.m., Tucson Convention Center, Mojave Meeting Room — Esther Sternberg, MD, director of research at the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine and director of the UA Institute on Place, Wellbeing and Performance, will discuss features of the built environment that promote physical health and emotional well-being, with a focus on aging populations.
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Humanity in the Age of the Genome Revolution | Friday, Oct. 18, 3 p.m., Tucson Convention Center, Greenlee Meeting Room — Michael Hammer, PhD, professor in UA Department of Neurology and research scientist with Arizona Research Laboratories, and Floyd Chilton, PhD, professor of UA Department of Nutritional Sciences, will discuss research on precision health, designed to avoid disease through individually tailored wellness strategies.
Other possible topics of interest include panels on Building Innovative Cities (Oct. 11), Higher Ed & Professional Development in Indian Country (Oct. 14), STEM Connect (Oct. 16), IdeaFunding, including a shark-tank style contest (Oct. 17) and the Fourth Industrial Revolution and Women's Hackathon (Oct. 18)—see link to schedule at TENWEST.com below for more.
TENWEST began in 2015 as Tucson's answer to South by Southwest, organizers say. The UA signed on as a title sponsor of the event. Presentations from University experts will cover artificial intelligence, health care innovations, the science behind making musical instruments, defending Earth from hazardous asteroids and comets, and more.
Visit TENWEST.com for a full schedule of events and more information.