Research In Action
Research In Action
As a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) student with the Center for Injury Research and Prevention at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, I heard the term "research valley of death." It was immediately ingrained into my memory. The phrase vividly illustrated the disconnect in research dissemination between scientists and the public.
Several thousand hours and dollars are annually invested into science to advance human understanding of our ever-complex world. Researchers devote themselves to reading the latest literature of their disciplines, so that it may inform future work. Then, after conducting studies, investigators may speak at conferences, publish their findings in a scientific journal article or even write a book. However, those resources are limited in accessibility and are often unavailable to the populations from which they gathered the data.
Translating the Science
When the literature is open to the public, journal articles remain generally dense and bland. Furthermore, outside academic settings, journal articles are inefficient to purchase for most individuals. Coincidentally, the viable information that researchers spend years developing often goes unread by anyone outside of the scientific community.
Public Health Post is a daily publication that invites people with various levels of familiarity with journal articles to engage with the latest population health research. To drive public health dialogue, external authors, including policymakers, journalists, activists, and other researchers, contribute to this platform. However, most pieces are written by Public Health Post fellows like me.
As a Public Health Post fellow, I have fallen in love with scientific literature. There is incredible research being conducted that is overlooked because it is often not covered in the mainstream media. At Public Health Post, we believe that health and social justice are inextricably united. Therefore, we use our platform to elevate innovative research, highlight studies impacting marginalized communities, and introduce readers to the brains behind the brilliance through interviews. Each of our pieces is written in layman's terms because we believe that all knowledge, particularly science, should be accessible to everyone.
I hope you enjoy reading my most recent posts.