Diana Nyad is an endurance athlete, journalist, and author best known for completing the 110-mile open-water swim from Havana, Cuba, to Key West, Florida at age 64. After four failed attempts spanning more than three decades, she became the first person to make the crossing without a protective shark cage, swimming for nearly 53 hours through the Gulf Stream.

Long before the Cuba swim, Diana had established herself as a record-setting long-distance swimmer, including a 28-mile circumnavigation of Manhattan and a 102-mile swim from the Bahamas to Florida. She later built a distinguished career in sports broadcasting and journalism, covering major global sporting events and interviewing some of the world’s most accomplished athletes.

Her return to the Cuba swim after decades away from competitive endurance sport became a defining moment not only in athletics, but in the broader conversation about aging, resilience, and the pursuit of unfinished dreams. Since completing the crossing in 2013, she has written the memoir Find a Way, performed a one-woman stage show, and continues to speak about preparation, persistence, and the role of team in achieving ambitious goals.

Her story was adapted into the 2023 film Nyad, introducing her journey to a new generation.

Kelly Thomas, PhD is Director of Scientific Content at TEDMED, where she curates and translates breakthrough ideas at the intersection of science, medicine, and human potential. Her work focuses on making complex research clear, accurate, and meaningful — connecting rigorous evidence to the realities of everyday life.

With a background spanning biomedical engineering, structural biology, oncology, and the biology of the stem-cell niche in acute myeloid leukemia, Kelly has written across formats ranging from peer-reviewed research and grant proposals to health and wellness journalism. Throughout her career, she has been driven by a central question: how do we translate the best of science into longer, healthier, more meaningful lives?

At TEDMED, she leads the development of conversations and experiences designed to surface nuance, challenge assumptions, and make emerging science accessible without oversimplifying it. As one of the hosts of TEDMED Conversations, she explores topics including resilience, mental health, technology’s impact on youth, and the future of care.

A lifelong athlete and high-performance competitor, Kelly brings a particular interest in the neuroscience of resilience and behavior change — and how science can inform the way we live, train, recover, and grow.