The 2017 Fellows are all leaders in their fields who constantly find new ways to collaborate and bring about positive change.
From an Ecuadorian neurobiologist working to uncover the neural circuits that connect the gut and the brain, an Afrofuturist filmmaker from Kenya who tells modern stories about Africa, to a Chinese entrepreneur and venture capitalist tackling global food system challenges, these TED Fellows are thinkers, creators and innovators breaking new grounds to lead us into wormholes of great possibilities.
These 7 women from different creative fields made the TED fellows list for 2017.
They are:
Rebecca Brachman (USA)
Rebecca Brachman (USA)Neuroscientist + entrepreneur
Neuroscientist studying how the brain, immune system, and stress interact and co-founder of a biotech startup working to develop the first prophylactic drugs to prevent mental illness and increase resilience to stress.
Kayla Briët (Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation + USA)
Kayla Briët (Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation + USA)Filmmaker + composer
Mixed-cultural artist infusing her Neshnaabe, Chinese, and Dutch-Indonesian heritage in multiple mediums of storytelling: film, virtual reality, and music – from orchestral to electronic.
Matilda Ho (China)
Matilda Ho (China)Food entrepreneur + investor
Chinese founder of Bits x Bites, China’s first food tech-focused accelerator VC that invests in startups solving systematic food challenges. She also founded Yimishiji, a farm-to-door e-commerce grocery platform.
Wanuri Kahiu (Kenya)
Wanuri Kahiu (Kenya)Filmmaker
Kenyan Afro-futurist filmmaker using the science fiction and fantasy genres to tell modern African stories.
Mei Lin Neo (Singapore)
Mei Lin Neo (Singapore)Marine biologist
Singaporean marine ecologist and conservationist studying the endangered giant clams of the Indo-Pacific, and promoting ways to protect these rare marine species from going extinct.
Lauren Sallan (USA)
Lauren Sallan (USA)Paleobiologist
Paleobiologist using the vast fossil record as a deep time database to explore how global events, environmental change and ecological interactions affect long-term evolution. She is particularly interested in what past mass extinctions of fish can tell us about modern climate change.
Elizabeth Wayne (USA)
Elizabeth Wayne (USA)Biomedical engineer + STEM advocate
Biomedical engineer working to enhance the ability of immune cells to deliver genetic material to tumours and co-host of PhDivas, a podcast about women in higher education.
See the rest of this list and the Senior Fellows HERE.
