During the first seven weeks of the research fellowship, my peers and I discussed the importance of explaining our research and methods to audiences outside our fields. We have also read articles about research purpose and significance that we reflected on as a class. My peers and I agreed on the same thing—explaining your research to someone without background information can be very difficult! Each week, we share our research and practice sharing our research in concise, straightforward ways. We are improving and feeling more confident in sharing our research without using technical jargon. Even though my peers in the HSRF have a background in health sciences, we need background information to grasp each other’s research projects fully.

I have found success in introducing my research topics before mentioning the specifics of my research. For example, I am researching schizophrenia. If someone does not have a clear understanding of what schizophrenia is, the details of my project will be meaningless to them. I found it essential to summarize what schizophrenia is and how schizophrenia causes physiological changes to the brain. Explaining these overarching themes helps people to understand what schizophrenia is and why it is important to research schizophrenia to help patients. After explaining the basics, I can briefly describe the specific protein I am researching and the methods in my project. These techniques help me clearly explain my research to people who are outside my field of study. My peers have also been using strategies similar to the one that I am employing.

As a future physician, I hope the skills I learn through the HSRF and my research will help me teach patients about medicine and their health. In addition, as I hopefully will be attending medical school interviews soon, it is important to explain my research and goals to my interviewers concisely. I am excited to learn new methods to present my research or findings to broad audiences throughout medical school and residency. Most patients will not know about different medication options or treatment plans for their diagnoses. I hope to have educational conversations with my patients to ensure they feel heard and their healthcare needs are met. Beyond just having conversations with my patients, I want to provide educational resources such as brochures or internet pages to help patients make the best decisions regarding their health.