{"id":221,"date":"2017-09-04T18:51:49","date_gmt":"2017-09-04T18:51:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/medicalrhetoric.com\/symposium2017\/?page_id=221"},"modified":"2018-06-01T12:02:37","modified_gmt":"2018-06-01T12:02:37","slug":"joanna-johnson","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/medicalrhetoric.com\/symposium2017\/profiles\/joanna-johnson\/","title":{"rendered":"Joanna Johnson"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"JoannaTitle: <\/strong>Director of Writing, English Composition Director<\/p>\n

University: <\/strong>University of Miami<\/p>\n

Email: <\/strong>jsjohnson@miami.edu<\/p>\n

Twitter: <\/strong>N\/A<\/p>\n

Website: <\/strong>as.miami.edu\/writing<\/p>\n

Description of Work:<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Director of Writing — including scientific writing programs \u2013 in the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of Miami; responsible for 28 FT faculty and up to 40 PT and graduate TA faculty in 150+ class sections for approximately 2,000 students per semester (mostly FYW), and writing centers on all three campuses, in which around 6,000 appointments are held annually.\u202f Coordinate research writing support including individual grant writing and manuscript\/article writing consultations with biomedical\/STEM faculty.\u202f Host several workshops each year on clear and concise scientific (grant) writing to members of the UM and extended local academic community.\u202f Contribute regularly to the responsible conduct of research training (RCR) for graduates and post-doc fellows at UM, which, in accordance with recently revised NIH guidelines now includes training in issues of reproducibility.\u202f My work on the role of writing is a novel addition to this curriculum, and was recently awarded 3rd<\/span> place in the 2017 AAMC Research and Research Innovation Awards.\u00a0 In my latest research, I explore the role of scientific writing in meeting the challenge \u2013 and problem \u2013 of experimental reproducibility.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Symposium Submission:<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The role of writing and communication in the biomedical and scientific replication crisis\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The challenge of scientific replication or reproducibility is an obstacle for empirical research, a problem for funders and investigators, and even a crisis in public trust of the scientific enterprise.\u00a0 It is one of the most interesting and important challenges facing the world\u2019s research community. The too-frequent failure of efforts to replicate or reproduce others\u2019 results has engendered a crisis and, to some, undermined the credibility of at least some studies. This inability to reproduce results of scientific experiments is not only relevant to the advancement of knowledge but also costly: \u201cLow reproducibility rates within life science research undermine cumulative knowledge production and contribute to both delays and costs of therapeutic drug development. An analysis of past studies indicates that the cumulative (total) prevalence of irreproducible preclinical research exceeds 50%, resulting in approximately US$28B\/year spent on preclinical research that is not reproducible\u2014in the United States alone.\u201d1<\/p>\n

Leading journals such as Nature <\/i>and Science <\/i>have outlined sets of guidelines to combat the challenge of replication, which include encouraging transparency and sharing of scientific methods and data.\u00a0 Still, causes of the failure of efforts to reproduce others\u2019 results continue to be elusive, various and complex, from over-stating results, pressure to publish, careless work, and an emphasis on findings that are novel and significant rather than those that confirm what we think we already know.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We should seek to find better practices, implement standards, and further understand the challenges we face.\u00a0 As a rhetoric scholar, I am interested in researching a specific factor in poor rates of replication: the role of writing and communication. I suggest that the nature of scientific prose is an under-recognized source of reproducibility failure, and improvement of scientists\u2019 communication skills \u2013 valuable in its own right \u2013 might therefore be a mechanism for partially addressing the problem of scientific replication. I have already shared preliminary research findings with the University of Miami community in an \u201cEthics Dialogue\u201d at the Miller School of Medicine in October 2015, and I am hosting a SEEDS grant funded symposium on this research in April 2017, to include Dr. Elizabeth Iorns, a leading global authority on reproducibility.\u00a0 Her presentation will include sharing results of the latest initiatives for improving reproducibility via the Science Exchange, which has partnered on the \u201cReproducibility Project: Cancer Biology,\u201d a project funded by a $1.4m Laura and John Arnold Foundation grant that attempts to reproduce fifty highly influential papers.\u201d2<\/span><\/p>\n

The replication crisis is of relevance to a broad and diverse group of researchers and faculty –from scientists and social scientists to biomedical researchers\u2014across multiple disciplines. My research, importantly, puts this group into extended conversation with technological communication and health rhetoric scholars. The goal of this project\/presentation is, then, to provide a forum for discussion on recent developments and initiatives to address the reproducibility crisis in scientific and biomedical research with special regard to the significance of the role writing and communication.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The 2017 health and rhetoric symposium would be an opportunity to both share those findings and to benefit from collegial conversations with fellow health rhetoric scholars.\u00a0 My aim is to eventually use this research for an article, as well as contributing to the understanding of the role of writing in the responsible conduct of research more generally.\u00a0 As WPA at the University of Miami, I contribute regularly to the responsible conduct of research training (RCR) for graduates and post-doc fellows, which, in accordance with recently revised NIH guidelines now includes training in issues of reproducibility, and my work on the role of writing is a novel addition to this curriculum.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Title: Director of Writing, English Composition Director University: University of Miami Email: jsjohnson@miami.edu Twitter: N\/A Website: as.miami.edu\/writing Description of Work: Director of Writing — including scientific writing programs \u2013 in … Continue reading “Joanna Johnson”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":2,"menu_order":22,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-221","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicalrhetoric.com\/symposium2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicalrhetoric.com\/symposium2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicalrhetoric.com\/symposium2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicalrhetoric.com\/symposium2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicalrhetoric.com\/symposium2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/medicalrhetoric.com\/symposium2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":825,"href":"https:\/\/medicalrhetoric.com\/symposium2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/221\/revisions\/825"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicalrhetoric.com\/symposium2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicalrhetoric.com\/symposium2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}