Data for Data’s Sake: Worthless
Researchers are valuable. Their years of painstaking and precise research bring us data about important things that affect and sometimes change our lives. But without the scientist’s voice and interpretation, data is meaningless.
Signs of Progress Toward Reversing the Childhood Obesity Epidemic
On July 9, more than 250 people gathered in the gym of the National Capital Y in Washington, D.C., to hear from leaders representing four states and five cities or counties recording declines in their childhood obesity rates.
Introducing Conversations in Development
BurnessGlobal introduces a new monthly series called Conversations in Development to feature interviews with fascinating people we have known or worked with over our 20+ years in the development space.
Tweet or Go Extinct
In an opinion piece in The Scientist, author Sara Yeo reports on the results of a survey of leading scientists at U.S. universities about their interactions with traditional media as well as social media like Twitter. The results? Yeo reports that “public communication efforts are linked to academic impact and that social media can augment more traditional forms of public communication.”
A Model for Medical Education and Care Management Expands
This lack of access to specialty care prompted Dr. Arora to create Project ECHO, a collaborative model of lifelong medical education and care management that connects specialists at academic medical centers with primary care clinicians in underserved communities to treat patients with complex, common conditions.
How Healthy Is Northern Virginia?
A new report from the Northern Virginia Health Foundation (a Burness client) tells us that residents of Northern Virginia may not be as healthy as you think.
Mission Statements—Eight Words or Less or Forget It
What does your audience want to hear? That’s the first question we ask before we work with trainees on messaging, and with good reason: targeting your statements and messages to your audience is imperative.
Dialing Back on the Drivers of Global Disease Outbreaks: A Look Inside the ‘Black Box’
These ‘causes of causes‘ of zoonotic disease outbreaks and their spread are pinpointed in a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Scientists argue in this paper that we’ll only become capable of preventing or stopping the next pandemic when we better understand the drivers of disease emergence.
Believe in Science? Look No Farther Than Your iPhone
We recently worked with The Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement celebrating their 40th Anniversary with a panel discussion on the future of the environment. The panel discussion, moderated by MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, sparked a fascinating discussion that ranged from the lessons learned in dealing with Quaaludes (yes, you read that correctly) to climate change, energy, agriculture, biodiversity and the public’s acceptance of science.
