Recent Brackenridge Fellowship seminars have focused on refining significance statements, assessing the appropriateness of jargon in scholarly writing, and authoring translational abstracts for an expansive audience. Clear and accurate communication of research motivations, findings, and significance is necessary to integrate one’s research into a discipline’s broader scholarly tradition, invite scholars to employ other disciplines in pursuit of similar goals, and encourage public engagement with novel findings. Research may advance society only when its methods and results are accessible to review, critique, improvement, and implementation by society.
A key component of bioethics research is bridging the gap between legal-philosophical scholarship and concrete clinical implications. My experiences in science education–from middle school through medical residency levels–have prepared me to distill biomedical concepts for a broad audience, including philosophers and ethicists. It is vital to select the most salient details of the relevant anatomical, physiological, pharmaceutical, or organizational framework for communication. The communicator must identify the “need to know” information. If a philosopher of neuroscience is analyzing a new intervention at the synapse, he must develop some understanding of the translation from electrical to chemical signaling between two neurons. However, he likely does not need to know the calcium buffering system and the presynaptic protein colocalization patterns. Rather than providing minute levels of detail, I attempt to ‘tell a story’ about the underlying process–perhaps using graphics or analogies to tangible objects–that acquaints an unfamiliar audience member with the biological backdrop of an ethical investigation. Communicating the results of research is most effectively achieved through the use of colloquial language, the avoidance of unnecessary details, and the development of a coherent narrative that synthesizes the key concepts linking all findings.
Moving in the other direction–presenting legal and philosophical arguments to an audience in the medical field–is often achieved through the use of pertinent and relatable case studies. Rather than presenting clinicians with sweeping pronouncements about beneficence or autonomy, it is often much more instructive to employ a real-life scenario in which a physician-patient encounter naturally raises important bioethical questions. Instead of simply providing answers to bioethical questions, this approach allows clinicians to first independently raise those questions. Given such a case study, they are likely to comprehend the relevance and importance of bioethics research to their own day-to-day experiences. Similar approaches may be used with lay audiences; using cases to induce a ‘gut feeling’ among audience members convincingly illustrates the relevance of bioethical inquiry. Communicating the purpose and significance of research is most effectively achieved through showing, not telling.
After my graduation from Pitt in April 2024, I will be heading to the University of Notre Dame to participate in the Alliance for Catholic Education Teaching Fellows program. I will earn an MEd through summer coursework and spend two years teaching STEM in underserved Catholic schools. As in my other teaching roles, a key goal in this endeavor will be communicating complex concepts in an approachable manner. I hope to engage my students in analyzing modern research, presenting their own laboratory findings, and considering the clinical, translational, and policy impacts of novel discoveries. My classes will help students make sense of visual and mathematical representations of data, connect individual research articles to broader course themes, and identify important next steps in a field of inquiry. However, before my students can achieve these goals, I must first model effective science communication skills. My experience in the Brackenridge Fellowship continues to help me strengthen these skills both for my own development and for my future students. Additionally, with future goals in STEM-related law and policy, it will be essential for me to communicate natural sciences research to professionals in the legal academy, government, and social science disciplines. Unlike K-12 students, these individuals often have highly developed and specialized perspectives with which they analyze legal and policy matters. It is imperative that I work to explain the significance of my research in terms of the main ideas, foundational texts, and contemporary inquiries within an audience’s frame of reference. The interdisciplinary nature of the Brackenridge Fellowship provides a valuable environment in which to practice this skill.
