The infodemic — and the scientists fighting against it | Jessica Malaty Rivera
Summary
Public health scientist Jessica Malady Rivera discusses the dual crisis of pathogen outbreaks and information epidemics in her conversation with TED curator Whitney Pennington Rogers. Rivera argues that rebuilding public trust requires courageous leadership, transparency, and storytelling rather than simply demanding deference to experts. She emphasizes the need for scientists to bridge the gap between academia and the public by making complex data accessible and acknowledging uncertainty.
Topics discussed
Intro: The dual outbreak of pathogens and information
Sponsors: Defender, Kohler, and Dell
Defining leadership in public health and epidemiology
Courageous leadership when science is politicized
Navigating high stakes and finding groundedness
Altruism, trust, and the two outbreaks model
Using storytelling and personal identity to connect
The messaging problem and the need for translation
Repairing trust through transparency and humility
Hope for the future: Training science communicators
Making invisible public health work visible
Personal 'why': Sense-making and global justice
Outro and sponsors: Kohler, Schwab, ServiceNow
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