From Research to Real Impact: If People Don't Understand It, It Can't Change Lives ⭐

A lot of science is not actually usable.

I was a panelist for the Society for Health Psychology (SfHP) Education & Training Council webinar, “From Research to Real Impact: Building Science Communication Skills for Public Engagement.” I joined science communicators working at the intersection of research and real-world use, where communication is not theory, it is responsibility.

Here is what I kept coming back to: your research can make an impact in the world, but only if people understand it. And if folks need to pull up Google while you are talking, you have already lost them..... That is not an attention problem, it's a connection problem!

I also shared my “why.” Early in my career, I realized how much of what we knew about HIV’s impact on Black communities was staying locked in academic journals instead of reaching the people most impacted. That gap has shaped everything since. It is in how I think as an infectious disease epidemiologist, how I teach as an educator, how I advise as a consultant, and how I show up when I communicate public health.

Thank you to Jackline Awino Otieno, MA, MPH, for moderating the conversation, and to my fellow panelists Laura Lindenfeld, Kirsten "Dr. Kiki" Sanford, and Roy Schwartzman for the depth you brought to the space.
#ScienceCommunication #PublicHealth #HealthCommunication #KnowledgeTranslation