The Burness Effect Blog

Food and Farming at the Heart of Climate Discussion

Last week, a group of 14 international agriculture experts from around the world wrote an opinion piece in Science magazine urging the scientific community to address the importance of agriculture in the climate change debate.

Four-year universities have long dominated the higher education conversation, but now community colleges—critical to helping Americans gain skills needed in difficult economic times—are finally receiving recognition too. The Aspen Institute’s College Excellence Program (a Burness client) recently released its 10 … Continue reading Spotlight on Community College Excellence →

Once I asked a pain expert, “why do you care about pain treatment so much?” The story that followed – about a dying girl writhing in pain who changed the course of his medical career - silenced the room. And then It became the lead to an opinion editorial he published soon after in Toronto’s Globe and Mail. More leaders need to open up and share what drives them day in and day out.

BurnessDigital is new, but we’ve been crafting online strategy for several years: we have told the stories of exceptional nonprofits in videos, brought attention to their ideas with social media campaigns and dynamic websites, and worked to “move the needle” by crafting online strategies that advance their communications goals. This launch is the next step in the evolution of our communications approach.

Confronting America’s Primary Care Shortage

The shortage of primary care providers is well-publicized. But, as studies in the May issue of the health policy journal Health Affairs point out, recruiting more primary care doctors, nurse practitioners, and physician's assistants to fill that void is only part of the solution.

“Today, 1.4 billion people around the world live in extreme poverty. Many of them are women and children. Most of them are farmers.” That’s World Bank President Robert Zoellick in a video address to the Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development (GCARD), an unprecedented gathering in Montpellier, France that brought together researchers, policymakers, farmers, donors, and members of civil society from every region of the world.

Today, alongside the new Burness Communications website, we’re launching our new Health & Science Advocacy blog, Above the Noise: Being Heard, Becoming Memorable. The name reflects the overarching mission of the Burness Institute: to help researchers, health experts and other leaders become memorable in a cacophony of competing voices and priorities.

In this inaugural post to the Burness Effect Blog, Burness Communications President Andy Burness discusses the idea of "impact", what it is, and what it isn't.