Recently, I have been engaged in one of the best academic experiences I have had in my many years of formal education as well as many professional conferences. It was at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health Summer Institute. One of the courses that I have been taking is Genomics. We have had many knowledgeable experts with great communicating skills as well as well informed multi-disciplined student participants.
After one of our sessions I enetered in a conversation about stem cell research with someone that strongly opposes the entire issue of stem cell research based on his religious belief that scientists are entering in the realm of things that are really God's business. I was stopped for a minute, but not entirely surprised because we have had discussions about similiar issues and his response was usually very closed end and not allowing for a dialogue.
Based on a very inspirational speech on the first day of the Summer Institute and our many discussions in class about educating the public, the idea flashed to me almost instantaneous. I told him that in a way he was correct that we were entering the "God" area of creating and healing. But, I pointed out, didn't we do that daily when we take an aspirin or a dose of penicillin or subject ourselves to a surgical procedure. ( I knew his wife has been having several surgical procedures and was on several medications). He thought for a while and then he agreed with me. The barriers were lowered.
This person has expertise in construction. I went on to discuss with me that if his religious belief gave credence thst a higher being is responsible for knowledge, the very fact that we have moved from living in caves and trees to big beautiful homes that has allowed us to live in Minnesota in 30 below weather, quite comfortably, then that same higher being has supplied some with knowledge to study the genome and its applications and implications. We were able to have a very long in depth discussion about stem cell and what it really means and the implications for addressing various diseases.
The point of this story is that experts should endeavor to educate the public. We need to learn how to market the message. Marketing may mean we need to custom taylor to fit the audience. The problem is that the package has been pre-assembled and we move the package around to various user groups. Like the glove in a famous murder trial several years ago, it doesn't fit...
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