Dzifa Duose: Communicating Problems and Solving Them

“After high school, I spent a year teaching second grade in Ghana, and that is where my foundation in communication actually began,” said Dzifa Duose '11, a Research Group Leader at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. The Rice University bioengineering Ph.D. alumna said about half of her class of 42 students could not read and about a third were not up to their grade level in math.

“These kids could not relate to the curriculum, and it was actually a hindrance for some of the students who came from different backgrounds. My first goal was to learn their stories and what excited them, what interested them. Then I could tailor lessons to their needs.

“For example, an addition and subtraction problem could be reframed around something happening in their lives; I might even ask them to role play a scenario. Once I could capture their attention, they wanted to learn how to figure out the answer. That experience is something I’ve leaned on for all my interactions requiring me to present complex information to audiences at varying levels.”

Duose’s current audiences span a wide range of scientists, doctors, and research teams, as well as mixed audiences with varying degrees of medical industry experience. Understanding the audience that is reading or hearing her update is paramount to the success of her communication. To ensure her information is well-received, she tailors her message so audience members at every level of the spectrum can understand at least 80% of her content.

“To reach the maximum number of readers or listeners, I incorporate simplified and highly relatable examples that explain the concepts being discussed. This way, highly knowledgeable people get a refresh and the less knowledgeable audience members grasp the basics.

“When presenting, it is easier to gauge the reaction of the audience. Am I going in the right direction? Too much detail? Too little? When writing, again the audience is key; for a scientific audience, I include background information and then relate any new concepts to the more established concepts that are already familiar to most scientists in my field.”

Duose always seeks to balance her message, shaping the delivery so people from different backgrounds can appreciate and engage with the content. Finding the right balance is an exercise she has learned to apply to her career as well, when administrative and managerial responsibilities were added to her scientific goals. At that point, her engagement in the lab work shifted to designing assays, tests, and experimental plans as well as analyzing the resulting data.

Read the rest of Dzifa's story in the ACTIVATE Engineering Communication website.