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Mar 9 2012

Pioneer travels to SXSW 2012!

Mar 9, 2012, 12:21 AM, Posted by Pioneer Blog Team

In the spirit of continuing to discover pioneering ideas, RWJF’s Chief Technology and Information Officer and Pioneer team member Steve Downs is heading to Austin for SXSW, the annual music, film, and interactive conference taking place March 9-18.  

Steve is one of the judges for the Health Technologies session in the exciting SXSW Accelerator competition where finalists will showcase incredibly cool products that just might change the way people think about their health and health care. 

Watch the Health Technologies session streaming live on March 13 at 11 a.m. CST.

Follow Steve @stephenjdowns and Pioneer @pioneerrwjf. For up to the minute coverage, follow @SXSW. 

Oct 27 2011

Innovation, Optimism and Exploration at TEDMED 2011

Oct 27, 2011, 5:49 AM

Innovation often signifies progress and change. It is a sign that we’re moving the needle forward. But as we from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Pioneer Portfolio attend theTEDMED sessions this week, we’ve witnessed innovation become more than a mere word or sign. It’s become a powerful feeling that emotes goose-bump excitement and enthusiasm to break down walls that can achieve new and improved standards of health and medicine.

Oct 24 2011

Exploring What We Don't Know at TEDMED 2011

Oct 24, 2011, 3:00 AM

Pioneer is proud to once again sponsor TEDMED, which brings together innovative thinkers and leaders across the fields of medicine, science, business and technology. Traditionally, when people attend TEDMED, they come looking for ideas and inspiration. This year from October 25-28, the Pioneer team will be looking at things from a different perspective: What don't we know about some of the greatest challenges facing health and health care.


TEDMED has identified a tentative set of Twenty Great Challenges of Health and Medicine—deeply rooted problems with multiple, interconnected causes and ripple effects—which they plan to include as part of their 2012 conference. We’ve offered to help TEDMED examine these issues and we believe a good first step is to take a step back and ask: What don’t we know about these problems? What relationships aren’t we seeing?

To do this, we’ll be engaging all 600 conference attendees to get their thoughts on “what don’t we know” about these 20 challenges. Looking closely at what we don't know will help create a big-picture understanding of these challenges—a crucial step to developing truly effective solutions.

We invite you to join us in this exploration. Take a look at TEDMED’s Twenty Great Challenges of Health and Medicine. Then, answer the question, "What don’t we know?" about any of these challenges by tweeting #TEDMEDchallenges, posting a comment below, or e-mailing us at pioneerblog@rwjf.org.

Afterwards, we’ll be compiling what we heard at the conference and what you’ve told us to help TEDMED shape their new Great Challenges Program. Your input is valuable and will directly inform what is done at the TEDMED 2012 conference. We’ll share what we’ve learned in future posts.

How can you share your ideas?

Be sure to check back throughout the week and next for updates from our guests and team members.