When COVID-19 hit, infectious diseases expert Ooi Eng Eong stepped into the media spotlight, not because he sought attention, but out of a sense of responsibility. “If I don’t do it, and someone else says the wrong thing, the fault’s on me,” he says.  

That sense of moral obligation is at the heart of science communication. It reminds us that accuracy without accessibility is useless, and that in the fight against misinformation, the voice of science must be both clear and human. 

Communication in medicine is more than a tool. It is a responsibility. If we allow jargon to obscure meaning, or let mistrust and noise drown out the evidence, we risk eroding the very impact of science. Marcus Ong, Director of the Programme in Health Services Research & Population Health, puts it best: communication is the last mile in the scientific endeavour. You can do the research, test the solution, even prove its efficacy, but if you cannot explain it to stakeholders, policymakers, or patients, you fall short of making an impact where it matters most. 

That conviction shapes this issue of MEDICUS. Our lead story, The Last Mile: The Human Responsibility of Science Communication, shows how Eng Eong, Marcus, Scott Compton, Anne-Claire Stona and others navigate this responsibility in real time. Their examples remind us that clarity, empathy and dialogue are not optional extras in science, that they are the very drivers of trust and adoption. 

The same thread runs through other stories we’ve curated.  

If there is one call to action from this issue, it is this: all of us in medicine are communicators. Whether you are explaining a diagnosis, presenting at a conference, or sharing your work with the media, you are shaping how science lives in the world. Do it well and you build trust. Do it poorly—or not at all—and you leave space for confusion, scepticism and harm. 

So let’s take the last mile seriously. Let’s strip away the jargon, resist the temptation to overcomplicate and instead, meet people where they are. Because the real test of science isn’t just in what we discover, it’s in how well we can make it understood, trusted and transformative. 

Here’s to stories that not only inform but create dialogue. 

Warm regards,
Anirudh Sharma