Unlike typical epidemiologists, who often focus on specific conditions or methodologies, Raywat Deonandan considers himself a “global health epidemiologist” who embraces a broader perspective. His pre-pandemic work integrated “the three e’s”: ethics, education, and epidemiology. He explored the ethical implications of reproductive technologies, used unconventional data sources, such as insurance and hospital records, and developed innovative teaching methods for health science students.
A need for accessible epidemiological communication
However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Raywat Deonandan’s career shifted radically. Once he discovered that he had a knack for communication, he started writing a blog post entitled “COVID19: what’s the end game?”. He remembers that “prior to that blog post, I would get about 200 readers per week. That one got half a million.” This made him realize that during this crisis, there was a lack of accessible communication about epidemiology.
Over the first two years of the pandemic, Professor Deonandan participated in over 2000 media engagements about COVID-19: he wrote newspaper articles and blog posts explaining the disease, made several television appearances, and was invited to podcasts, interviews and debates in print.
To this day, he continues to publish on this subject. For example, last year he and other researchers published a book entitled Pandemics, Public Health, and the Regulation of Borders: Lessons from COVID-19, which compiles a series of essays describing the legal and epidemiological implications of closing borders during the pandemic.
A crisis of scientific literacy
Professor Deonandan is currently writing another book on the best ways to communicate pandemic awareness and effectiveness. He has also created a graduate-level course on public health and pandemic communication.
Raywat Deonandan points out that “there has been a lot of revisionism in the last couple of years to demonize public health officials and scientists [...] People are trying to make money off disinformation.” To face this crisis of scientific literacy, which he calls “the crisis of our time”, he says that it is urgent that we reinvest in overall science literacy for non-experts.
As such, the researcher focuses on making the fundamentals of epidemiology accessible not only to the general public, but also to policymakers, governments and corporations. For him, epidemiology is now more relevant than ever, given that “it affects people’s lives in a very direct sense, and the inability to understand it is dangerous.”
Raywat Deonandan thus sees his role as both a scientist and an educator, who, faced with the rise of misinformation, intervenes “to create some common sense out of it.” He adds: “I think that should be every researcher’s job. This world needs scientists who can communicate.”
Advocating for a new generation of scholars
In his module on how to communicate in public, he also teaches graduate students how to protect themselves as public figures. Having himself been threatened during the pandemic, he knows that this risk has scared many students away from seeking a path in the public eye. According to him, “we don’t inoculate students enough with philosophical training to allow them to navigate the hardships of the new world.”
“I see my role not simply as an epidemiologist or a scientist. I’m a public servant and an advocate for a new generation of scholars who are going to grow into this world,” continues Professor Deonandan. “As professors, we need to see ourselves that way. Our role goes beyond teaching and research. We are shepherding a new generation.”