Kathryn Karp
Dr. Fabrice Julien
The COVID-19 pandemic revealed some major shortcomings in our medical system. In addition, it exposed a clear lack of adequate science education in our country. Effective science and health communication has been shown to be an incredibly important tool to combat misinformation. Additionally, science and health education can empower patients to advocate for themselves and make smart health decisions. This research examines the effectiveness of different digital communication mediums in educating the public about complex scientific and health-related topics. The topic used for this research was “the gut microbiome”, which has biological and public health relevance. There were three different communication mediums used: podcasting, digital live presentation, and visual infographic. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected from participants and evaluated to determine the areas of strength and growth for each.