Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, a.k.a. Your Local Epidemiologist, posted something on Substack this week that deeply resonated with me. She, along some other public health professionals, met with grassroots from the Make America Healthy Again movement and came away with some valuable observations.

I want to continue to break down some of the great question topics that came up in our webinar training, “From Data to Dialogue: How Scientists Can Drive Change through Op-Eds.”

If you’ve ever thought about writing Op-Eds as a way to shape public discussion on health or science, chances are you’ve had similar questions to those that come up in our trainings. I’ve shared some of them below, along with my responses.

Scientific organizations eyeing the future should think more expansively about communications.

Marketing shouldn’t go away as a function. Nor should visibility and publicity go away as organizational objectives.

But, they also shouldn’t dominate the communications agenda at scientific organizations. And here’s why.

Some opinions we have are worth more than others. But when it comes to our brightest opinions, their potential value actually depends on how we organize our calendars. We seriously limit the potential value and impact that our opinions can have.

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