When doing research it is important to be able to explain your ideas and work to a general audience that is not familiar with the field. This is because research is meant to improve some aspect of society. Therefore, other people need to comprehend your research. Something I have learned over the past couple years is to present my work as if I were explaining it to my family. My family has no scientific background so they are not fully aware of the jargon used in the neuroscience field. When I talk about my research I explain to them what I am doing in basic terms. Leave out the most complicated jargon (that even I did not understand initially) and stress the importance of my research. The why sometimes is easier to explain than how. For example, I am researching a drug target for Alzheimer’s disease which will lead to finding better treatment for this impactful disease. This is easier to explain than talking about immunofluorescence staining for GFAP and NHE1 to look for reactive astrocytes. By starting off with why I am researching this field will make explaining how easier it is to someone new to the field. 

I am pursuing a career in medicine. This is a vast field full of different specialties, levels, education, etc. I will be interacting with people who are doing surgeries all the way to doctors doing research to nurses and other healthcare workers to patients in my care. I will be interacting with all kinds of people and have to be able to articulate my work to everyone! It will not only be those who know about my professional work but anyone who I come across at the hospital. I will need to interact with these audiences for many different reasons. For example, the healthcare system is meant to be collaborative meaning that there is a team working on patient care. I will have to work with those people to come up with a plan to provide healthcare to others. I will also have to convey this plan to my patients in a way they will understand. Since I am heavily involved in research currently and LOTS of research is on healthcare, I hope to continue that journey as a doctor by doing clinical trials etc. If I do this, then I will also be working with researchers of the field as well. From this reflection, I have to be prepared to explain my work to anyone I meet which is something I have been learning to do the past couple years as well as in this fellowship.