[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/picard_andre.jpg” caption=”Andre Picard, a health reporter at The Globe and Mail, will give a lecture on Lost in Translation: Challenges in Communicating Scientific Breakthroughs to the Public on Wednesday, Feb. 7, at 5:30 p.m. in Togo Salmon Hall, Room 120.”]What is the responsibility of the media to translate science for the public? How does a journalist identify “experts?” How can scientific “breakthroughs” be understood within a larger body of knowledge?

These are some of the issues that will be addressed by Andre Picard, health journalist at The Globe and Mail, during his visit to McMaster University this week as a Hooker Distinguished Visiting Professor.

Picard will deliver a lecture entitled Lost in Translation: Challenges in Communicating Scientific Breakthroughs to the Public on Wednesday, Feb. 7, at 5:30 p.m. in Togo Salmon Hall, Room 120. All are welcome to attend.

Picard has written extensively on health and the Canadian health care system and is a prize-winning author. His best-selling book, Critical Care: Canadian Nurses Speak for Change, was awarded the Canadian Nurses' Association Award of Excellence for Health Care Reporting. In 2002, Picard was named Canada's first Public Health Hero by the Canadian Public Health Association.

The lecture will be followed by a panel discussion involving participants from the faculties of health sciences, social sciences and science. There will be an opportunity for questions from the audience. The event will finish at 7 p.m.

The lecture has been organized by Collaborations for Health, a university-wide initiative developed to stimulate and support interdisciplinary health research and foster opportunities for interdisciplinary health education.

The Hooker Distinguished Visiting Professor is an annual honour bestowed by McMaster University on highly accomplished individuals who have made significant contributions to their field of work. Those chosen to deliver the lecture are selected based on the ability to enhance academia in their area of expertise, as well as across the university in general.

The lecture is funded by the university through a bequeath from Dr. Harry Lyman Hooker, who grew up in Hamilton before becoming a doctor in New York City. He left a multi-million dollar bequeath to McMaster upon his death in 1979.