The funding and health care landscape is changing, and a new program has launched to help physicians, scientists, and STEM executives adapt and thrive.
“This was the best research skill course I have taken at UChicago so far,” said physician researcher Jong-Wook Ban, MD, University of Chicago Instructor of Medicine.
The University of Chicago Science Communication Certificate Program gives professionals the proven strategies to distill complex information for any audience and helps participants apply those strategies to their personal goals.
Participants experience custom coaching and walk away with a professional video of themselves delivering a talk on the topic of their choice, as well as an op-ed, digital presence, and more. More than a dozen UChicagoans participated in an internal pilot program last year, and this year the program is opening to professionals across the country in a hybrid format of virtual sessions plus one epic in-person weekend on campus.
“Your work can’t live on if it isn’t advocated, communicated, and applied,” said Sara Serritella, faculty leader of the Master’s in Biomedical Sciences Science Communication Concentration and Certificate Programs and Director of Communications for the Institute for Translational Medicine. “Now more than ever, it’s critical to have the skills to showcase what you’re doing and why it matters.”
The Science Communication Certificate Program launched through a partnership between the Office of Master’s Education - spearheaded by Samuel Volchenboum, MD, PhD, Dean for Master’s Education, and Vineet Arora, MD, Dean for Medical Education at the Pritzker School of Medicine - and the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM), led by David Meltzer, MD, PhD, Director of the ITM and Associate Dean for Clinical Science Research, Translational, for the Biological Sciences Division and Pritzker School of Medicine.
University of Chicago faculty and staff receive a 50% discount on the certificate, and participants can use the content and videos to promote their departments, labs, secure donor funding, and more.
“It’s super fun,” said Reshmitha Madaka, PharmD. “Everybody is highly supportive, you receive immediate feedback on your work, and every assignment prompts you to think critically about yourself and your research to present in the best possible way.”
