This episode features three renowned communicators of science who work to inform, educate and inspire the public about health issues. Microbiologist Natalia Pasternak has become one of the leading communicators of science in Brazil and internationally. As founder of Instituto Questão de Ciência, she offers advice on how others can set up science communication institutes in their countries. Imogen Foulkes reflects upon how scientists can better communicate their research to the public, given her experience as a journalist with the BBC and SWI swissinfo.ch based in Geneva. And Sonia Lowman of International Medical Corps highlights the power of film to connect audiences to global health issues and create a vision for the way forward.
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Natalia Pasternak has a Bachelor of Science in Biology and a PhD and post-doctorate in Microbiology, in the field of Molecular Genetics of Bacteria at the University of São Paulo, Brazil.
In 2020, she became the first Brazilian fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Investigation (CSI), an institution created in 1976 in the United States to investigate and clarify allegations that deny or challenge science and counted Carl Sagan among its founders. In the same year, she was awarded the Ockham Award for international skepticism promotion.
She contributes as an associate researcher at the University of São Paulo at the Vaccine Development Laboratory and as a guest professor at the Getulio Vargas Foundation at the School of Public Administration. In 2021, Pasternak became a visiting professor in the Department of Science and Society at Columbia University in the United States.
In 2018, she founded the Instituto Questão de Ciência with the aim of promoting critical and rational thinking and public policies based on scientific evidence.
