Becker Library and the Office of Health Information and Data Science are pleased to announce the launch of the Center for Health and Science Communication in order to support the campus community in these increasingly essential competencies. The new center was created in collaboration with the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Medical Education, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences based on the expressed desires of WashU clinicians and researchers, as well as larger medical sciences trends. Its mission will focus on education, skill-building and services to complement current science and health communication efforts on campus.
The center will be led by Mychal Voorhees, Becker Library’s health communication and training specialist, who will expand her engagement and educational efforts on the fundamentals of science communication with the School of Medicine community. Programming will include workshops, convening activities, and conversations with leaders in the field. The center will also continue to provide the library’s customized health communication services.
Becker Library has a strong history of promoting health literacy and effective health and science communication to the faculty, staff, students and patients of the Washington University Medical Center. Over the years, we have provided health and science communication programming through the #SciComm Seminar Series, health communication trainings and plain language review services.
To celebrate the launch, the center is hosting #SciComm Week from Sept. 27 through Oct. 1, featuring a workshop presented by the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science. See the full schedule and register at becker.wustl.edu/scicomm.
Becker Library’s most recent strategic plan identified teaching the importance of clear and understandable messages as one of our key strategies for the future, and we are pleased to see another item from the plan come to fruition.