Filmed on 11 February 2017 as part of TEDxUTK 2017 Through the Looking Glass at the Clarence Brown Lab Theatre in Knoxville, TN.

Working in healthcare, Annette Mendola came to see people not just as old people, young people, or sick people, but as people with individual identities and life stories. Medicine often focuses on treating the symptoms, but as people grow older and begin to face larger health challenges, a focus on managing symptoms distracts us from life's broader goals. For the times we need to be cured and the times we just need to be comforted, Dr. Mendola believes medicine's role in our lives is one best decided ahead of time. She encourages us to see others as individuals with unique values and to consider what matters on an individual level, both to guide how we live our lives and how we approach our healthcare. Annette Mendola received a PhD in Philosophy, concentrating in Medical Ethics, from UT in 2003.  Prior to graduate school, she worked in the psychiatric inpatient ward of a small county hospital in upstate NY.  She taught Philosophy, primarily applied ethics, as a lecturer at UTK prior to taking a position as Director of Clinical Ethics at UTMCK in August of 2011.  She has given talks and workshops on an array of topics in practical philosophy to a variety of audiences.  She is married to another philosopher, John Nolt.  Together, they have 3 adult children.