TEDxCapeMay 2015

How stigma shaped modern medicine

In the 1940s, cancer was a condition shrouded in fear and denial, rarely discussed in public. Now there's a healthy public discourse and billions of dollars in research funding dedicated to it. In this talk, writer and microbiologist Dr. Nathalia Holt describes how a landmark 1940s PR campaign helped prompt that paradigm shift. "Changing how a disease is perceived is just as critical as anything coming out of a lab," she says. "We can't change medicine until we change opinions."