Matt Might's speaking information

Thank you for your interest in having me as a speaker!

I love to speak, and I put a lot of effort into ensuring that audiences are engaged, entertained, motivated and informed.

Please feel free to ask me to speak at your event, although I apologize in advance if I am unable to. I have a heavy travel and speaking schedule, so I cannot accomodate all requests to speak.

On this page, you'll find:

My requirements (please read)

I'm committed to giving the best and timeliest talk possible.

In support of this goal, I use Keynote for Mac for my presentations in order to incorporate dynamic content and engaging visuals that would be effectively impossible in tools like Microsoft PowerPoint.

So, here are my requirements on speaking:

If any of these requirements cannot be met, please let me know, so that we can discuss reasonable workarounds that preserve the quality of my presentation. For example, I may opt not to use slides at all.

Speaking fees

Unfortunately, due to the large number of requests for speaking that I receive, I have to turn down most of them.

I have found that speaking and preparation for speaking, especially with travel, takes away time from the mission of the Precision Medicine Institute and from family, so I have a speaking fee schedule for speaking outside of UAB or UAB-designated activities:

However, for speaking that directly relates to the mission of the Precision Medicine Institute or where there is an important public service element, I am often willing to waive that fee or reduce it.

So, you're more than welcome to ask me to speak with a reduced or waived fee, and I apologize in advance if I cannot accept.

Example talks

Here are some examples of talks I've given:

Topics, titles, abstracts and videos

I always tailor and modify every talk I give to the audience, so you're not at all picking a canned talk from this list.

Please tell me the make-up and motives of your audience, so I can craft a presentation that will work well with their knowledge level and their interests.

For science in general, I speak most frequently on:

In computer science, I speak most frequently on:

In medicine, I speak most frequently on:

Below, I've listed frequent themes / titles for talks I can give.

Frequent title: The algorithm for precision medicine

This talk can be adjusted for lay or medically trained audiences.

It uses my personal story to drive a narrative around the development of precision medicine, and then generalizes into a process (an algorithm) for precision medicine for all patients.

Abstract

Precision medicine promises to deliver the right treatment to the right patient at the right time. The open question is how it will do so.

The answer is data. Precision medicine is data-driven medicine. It uses data -- frequently genetic data -- to prevent, diagnose and treat disease at its root cause and in the context of an individual patient.

This talk covers the development of an algorithm for conducting precision medicine, and it casts the creation of this algorithm through the lens of a personal story: of discovering that my child was the first case of a new, ultra-rare genetic disorder. From this story, I will generalize to a process that scales precision medicine to all disease, or rather, to all patients.

Topics coverable: genomic diagnostics, drug repurposing, artificial intelligence.

CME learning objectives

  1. To define precision medicine.
  2. To illustrate clinical precision medicine with a case study.
  3. To define an algorithm for conducting clinical precision medicine in general.

Examples of this talk

Frequent title: Winning the War on Error: Solving the Halting Problem and Curing Cancer

This talk theme is meant for audiences with a computer science background, and it covers a major thread of my work in computer science: the use of static analysis to predict the behavior of software in order to improve (primarily) its security and also its performance and its reliability.

Using approximation as a unifying theme, it then pivots into medicine using my personal story to explain the concept of precision medicine to treat rare genetic disease. It then discusses how to cure cancer as a collection of rare genetic disorders.

Abstract

Errors in code for software lead to failures both routine and catastrophic -- and to the vulnerabilities at the root of the escalating security crisis. Errors in code for people -- the human genome -- give rise to chronic conditions, devastating rare diseases and, for half of us, cancer. This talk addresses how to end errors in code -- both digital and biological -- through conservatively approximating solutions to the halting problem for machines and through a computational rethink of the practice of medicine for people.

To evade the halting problem, I will present a broad, universal framework for conservatively approximating the behavior of programs -- Abstracting Abstract Machines (AAM) -- and discuss the success of applying this approach to detecting and eliminating security issues in software.

I will then provide a programmer's introduction and overview of precision medicine; argue that computation has becoming the limiting reagent in saving lives; and explain how an algorithmic approach in medicine is the key to the diagnosis, discovery and treatment of both rare genetic disorders and cancers.

Examples of this talk

My bio and CV

You can generate a bio appropriate for your event at this page, and you'll find my bio there as well.

Headshots

Dietary restrictions and preferences

If you're inviting me to a meal as part of my attendance, I'm always happy to join if possible!

I have no dietary restrictions, and I eat everything.

I'm always curious to try local specialties.

Travel preferences

I strongly prefer Delta airline (SkyMiles# 2299980066).

I sometimes use JetBlue (TrueBlue# 2130050366) if logistically necessary (often for Boston-DC travel), but please contact me for booking non-Delta.

For travel outside the U.S., I often book my flights 2-3 weeks out since that's when my schedule has finally become most predictable.

Within the U.S., I tend to book my flights a few days out, or even day of, since I often don't have enough predictability on my schedule.

Please contact me before booking "basic economy."

I will almost certainly be happy to pay the difference for a regular economy ticket. I often have to adjust my travel, and it is very difficult (and sometimes impossible) to adjust an itinerary on a basic economy ticket.

I prefer airfare booked as two one-way flights over a single round-trip flight for the same reason: I often have to adjust my travel. In some cases, I may cancel (or miss) the in-bound flight to take an alternate means of travel, and the airline will often cancel the return trip.

Commonly needed info

Date of Birth: 24 July 1981.
Full name: Matthew Brendon Might
Seating preference: Aisle
Known traveler number (KTN): 983756847

Seating preference exceptions: