A Transformative Project to Capture the Perspective of Subject Matter Experts on the Weight of the Scientific Evidence Informing Critical Policy Decisions
Research Now proposes a fundamentally new approach to engaging scientists as members of a community of experts to enable, amplify and make visible the way that scientists actively discuss emerging research and collectively weigh the relevant evidence.
Through Research Now, we are creating a platform that shows, openly and transparently, how scientists discuss research as skeptics in search of the truth. As we build out the platform, our goal is to become a major Open Access hub where subject matter experts discuss emerging research and where epistemic consensus can emerge without undue influence, freely available for all to see.
In addition, providing a window into this process of scientific discourse that heretofore has occurred out of public purview, will also serve a second, equally important goal of improving public understanding of the processes of science. Over time, the public will become more capable of recognizing the differences between real science and mis- and disinformation. In other words, they will begin to discern that science is, by its nature, a relentless search for truth and differs dramatically from the attention driven pursuit of political and financial agendas without regard for the truth.
We are actively seeking support for our inaugural pilot project related to the weight of the evidence on the true efficacy of masks to prevent the spread of COVID and other infectious diseases. For more on the project, go here. To support us, click the link below.
Meet our Team
Robert D Morris, MD, PhD
Scientific Director
[email protected]
BioRobert D. Morris, MD, PhD, is an environmental epidemiologist and the founder and CEO of DropCite. He has taught at Tufts University School of Medicine, Harvard School of Public Health, and the Medical College of Wisconsin, and served as an advisor to the EPA, CDC, Bloomberg, the History Channel, the NIH and the President’s Cancer Panel. His work has been featured in the New York Times and the London Times, and on Dateline NBC and the BBC. His book, The Blue Death, received a Nautilus Gold Award and was named one of the Best Consumer Health Books of 2007 by the American Library Association.
Donna Gerardi
President
[email protected]
Donna is a proven nonprofit leader and innovator with more than three decades of experience bridging the gap between science and policy at the national and state levels. She is executive director of the Washington State Academy of Sciences, after working in similar roles in California at the California Council on Science & Technology, where she was the co-architect of the first state-level Science & Technology Fellows Program, and at the US National Academy of Sciences, where she founded and directed its Office of Public Understanding of Science. She also has consulted with national and state level organizations on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Rachel K Owen, PhD
Managing Director
[email protected]
Dr. Rachel K. Owen is a policy and social entrepreneur with proven success in making things happen. In 2016, she co-founded Missouri Science and Technology (MOST) Policy Initiative and served as the founding executive director from 2019 – 2021, leading the organization from a single employee to a team of 12 full and part time staff.
In 2021, Rachel co-founded SciTech Forefront, a Medium publication aimed to bring science policy writers together to share resources and articles. She now serves as the Co-Editor of Forefront. Rachel is also the Development Director of Engineers and Scientists Acting Locally (ESAL).
Dr. Owen received her Ph.D. from the University of Missouri, where she currently holds and adjunct faculty position.