TEDxStLouis

Speakers

Speakers may not be confirmed. Check the event website for the latest lineup.

• Alison Huckenpahler

  Dr. Huckenpahler’s path into psychiatry began with a misdiagnosis. In her teens, she struggled to stay awake, began to hallucinate, and would lose control of her body seemingly at random. Over the years, her symptoms were explained in many ways and given many psychiatric labels. Each diagnosis made a certain kind of sense, but none of them fully fit. It was only later she learned she had narcolepsy, a neurological sleep disorder that had quietly shaped her daily life for years. That experience changed how she understood mental illness. It raised a question that still guides her work: What if we sometimes mistake problems of sleep and brain state for psychiatric disease? Now a psychiatrist and neuroscientist, Dr. Huckenpahler treats people with depression, focusing on the link between sleep and depression and designs clinical trials that test sleep-based interventions as treatments for depression. Her work asks whether changing sleep—its timing, depth, or stability—can help the brain recover in ways medications alone sometimes cannot. Instead of treating sleep as something that passively reflects mental health, she treats it as something that can actively shape it.

• Erica Barnell

  Dr. Erica Barnell, MD/PhD is a physician-scientist, entrepreneur, and nationally recognized leader in gastrointestinal diagnostics, working at the intersection of medicine, molecular biology, and preventive health. She trained at Washington University School of Medicine, where she earned both her MD and PhD, and has spent more than a decade focused on translational research aimed at improving early disease detection and long-term health outcomes. Dr. Barnell is the co-founder and Chief Medical and Science Officer of Geneoscopy, a venture-backed diagnostics company that has raised more than $200 million to develop noninvasive gastrointestinal screening technologies. She led the clinical and scientific development of the company’s lead colorectal cancer screening test (ColoSense) from concept through FDA approval, advancing the first multi-target stool RNA test for the detection of colorectal cancer. Her work has been extensively published in peer-reviewed journals and has contributed to national discussions around cancer prevention and health equity. In addition to her scientific leadership, Dr. Barnell serves as the High-Complexity Laboratory Director for Geneoscopy's 25,000-square-foot CAP/CLIA-certified laboratory that was built from the ground up in St. Louis, overseeing clinical operations, quality systems, and regulatory compliance. Her career spans discovery science, clinical validation, regulatory strategy, and commercialization, providing a rare, end-to-end perspective on how biomedical innovation reaches patients. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, Dr. Barnell is a frequent speaker on preventive medicine, diagnostics, and healthcare innovation. At TEDxSTLouis, she brings a perspective shaped by science, clinical care, and building real-world solutions: inviting audiences to reconsider how health is shaped long before disease is diagnosed.

• Kristen Harris

  Kristen Harris, also known as KMoney the Poet, is an award-winning spoken word artist, writer, author, model and public speaker. She is a trailblazer in the poetry community and passionate about moving rooms, uplifting, and educating through her poetry.

• Lou Bopp

  Lou Bopp is an on-location commercial photographer specializing in lifestyle photography of people and pets, with an aesthetic approach that blends honesty, texture, and connection to create compelling moments for some of the world’s biggest brands. He has multiple Communication Arts Advertising Awards. His work centers on crafting authentic, lifestyle-driven imagery for pet brands, pharma, corporate, and industrial. With years of experience, he's built extensive global image libraries, led advertising campaigns, and produced editorial and short-form motion assets for web and broadcast, including full-length documentaries. Lou is the creator of the stills and featured in the Oscar®-Winning Netflix Film "All the Empty Rooms". Over seven years, CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman and he traveled the country to document bedrooms left largely untouched, capturing intimate portraits of how parents preserve their children's spaces long after they are gone. This documentary was directed by Josh Seftel. He's collaborated with a wide range of clients, including eBay, Mississippi Tourism, Nestlè Purina, Marley Coffee, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche LA, AMD, Goldman Sachs, Intel, Nike, AMEX, PetSmart, American Airlines, Disney World, Time Warner, J. Walter Thomas, AG Edwards, CDW, Y & R, McCann-Erickson, FutureBrand, and more. One of his images was selected for a USPS First-Class Forever stamp. He has two books published: Hidden History of Mississippi Blues (History Press) and Mississippi Juke Joint Confidential: House Parties, Hustlers & the Blues Life (Arcadia Publishing). Lou has been featured on The CBS Sunday Morning Show, 60 Minutes, CNN, and Esquire Magazine, to name a few.

• Mary Ellen Bryan

  Mary Ellen Bryan’s movement career began in 1987 studying ballet under the Royal Academy of Dance technique, which led her to a professional dance and choreographic career. In 1999, under the study of master teachers Michele Larson and Virginia Nicholas, she earned a Pilates Certification through Core Dynamics Pilates. Mary Ellen has trained with many great teachers who have played a part in building her unique and accessible teaching style which spans several movement modalities. Having always lived with a great passion for people and holistic health, she pursued a BFA in Dance at Arizona State and Athletic Training at Lindenwood University, as well as Thai Bodywork and Gyrotonic licensing. With access to various movement modalities, Mary Ellen has facilitated many clients with a wide variety of physical conditions from surgery rehabilitation to professional athletes to obtain strength and healing. Inspired by the desire to reach people in all walks of life, Mary Ellen opened Central Studio in October of 2012 and continues to develop programming with passion and purpose. In addition to Central Studio, she is the Board President of CommUNITY Arts STL. Supported by the love of her husband, four amazing children, her parents, six siblings, and the wisdom of incredible teachers and many long-standing clients and friends, the journey continues together.

• Pierre Paul

  Pierre Paul is a PhD student in Disability Studies, a public entrepreneur, and the Founder and CEO of We Hear You®, an accessibility technology company dedicated to transforming how people move through the built environment. Pierre brings a rare combination of lived experience, academic rigor, and practical innovation to everything he does, approaching accessibility not as a feature or a checklist, but as essential infrastructure for a just society. Pierre was born in Brazil, raised in Guyana, and immigrated to the United States as a child. From a young age, he faced extreme xenophobia, racism, and poverty, experiences that made him acutely aware of who is allowed to belong and who is pushed to the margins. Rather than internalizing those barriers, Pierre made a deliberate decision to master the English language and the art of public speaking, believing that voice could be both a tool for survival and a vehicle for change. That choice would later define his life’s work. Today, Pierre has built two disability technology companies, focused on creating practical, scalable solutions that remove everyday barriers without forcing people to ask for permission or assistance. Under his leadership, We Hear You has been recognized by Forbes as one of the Top 100 Most Accessible Companies in the World, reflecting Pierre’s belief that accessibility should be seamless, dignified, and embedded into existing systems rather than treated as an afterthought. His work bridges engineering, disability studies, and participatory design, centering disabled voices in the development of technology that affects their daily lives. In parallel with his entrepreneurial work, Pierre is a highly sought-after keynote speaker who travels across the United States delivering talks and training on disability, equity, and inclusive design for organizations, universities, and institutions. His ability to translate complex social issues into clear, actionable ideas has made him a trusted voice in conversations about accessibility, innovation, and leadership. Pierre’s commitment to service extends beyond the stage and the boardroom. He volunteers as a mentor to students, distributes food at a local food pantry, offers public speaking lessons within his community. These efforts reflect a deeply held belief that knowledge, opportunity, and dignity should never be gated. At the core of Pierre’s work is a simple conviction: progress is measured not by how advanced our technology becomes, but by how many people it brings along with it. His drive to build a more inclusive future, paired with his ability to articulate ideas, motivate action, and lead with compassion, is not incidental. Helping others prosper is ingrained in who he is, and it shapes everything he builds, teaches, and advocates for.

• Stephen Hupp

  Stephen Hupp, PhD, is the executive director of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and the editor of Skeptical Inquirer: The Magazine for Science and Reason. He is also a psychology professor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. His edited books include Investigating Pop Psychology (with Richard Wiseman), Investigating Clinical Psychology (with Jonathan Stea), Science-Based Therapy (with David Tolin), and Pseudoscience in Therapy: A Skeptical Field Guide (with Cara Santa Maria).