"Raise your hand if you have ever been confused by a medical term or something your doctor said." This question was posed by Dr. Lisa Fitzpatrick ("a CDC-trained medical epidemiologist and board-certified infectious diseases physician with both domestic and global experience in public health,") in her 2015 TEDx talk on health information. In her talk, Fitzpatrick recounts a lighthearted conversation between her and her father, which exemplifies how often people get confused about medical terms. She notes that "low health literacy" is a universal problem; so, readers who raised a hand at the opening question are far from alone. In response to a lack of information, Fitzpatrick began having conversations with strangers, spreading health awareness through a program she called Dr. Lisa on the Street. The remainder of her talk largely focuses on this program and what it taught her. Though the talk is brief (just over 12 minutes in length), it offers a powerful message: "Speak up and get the information you need to be healthy."
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