As Pew research showed last month, many Americans have less confidence in science these days - our collective trust has declined to levels below when the pandemic began. But leaders like Dr. Sudip Parikh are taking important steps to more fully engage people in scientific progress, including breakthroughs that could benefit health and prevent disease. In January 2020, Sudip became the 19th Chief Executive Officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), an international nonprofit that seeks to advance science, engineering and innovation throughout the world, with 120,000 members in 91 countries. He is the executive publisher of Science, one of the top academic journals in the world, and the Science family of journals.

In this episode, Sudip and I talk about:

- Reasons to be excited about health innovations that could come to fruition in the next several years.

- Sudip's thoughts about areas of health innovation where we should be especially cautious.

- Strategies for scientists and journalists to instill greater trust in science.

- How to tap into and nurture kids' passion for STEM subjects.

- The best roles for experts to play in society and the challenges they face.

And we pack several other fascinating topics into our 35 minutes. Here are links to check out and learn more about Sudip Parikh and AAAS:

- Sudip Parikh's official bio - https://www.aaas.org/person/sudip-parikh

- Sudip Parikh, Why We Must Rebuild Trust in Science, Trend Magazine, Feb. 9, 2021 - https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/trend/archive/winter-...

- Follow Sudip on Twitter - https://twitter.com/sudipsparikh

- AAAS website - https://www.aaas.org/

- AAAS podcast - https://www.science.org/podcasts

- The latest issue of Science - https://www.science.org/

- Science Journals homepage - https://www.science.org/journals

- AAAS Mentor Resources - https://www.aaas.org/stemmentoring

- AAAS Science Journalism Awards - https://sjawards.aaas.org/enter

- Pew Research Center Report, Americans' Trust in Scientists, Other Groups Declines, Feb. 15, 2022 https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2022/02/15/ame...

Making Sense of Science features interviews with leading medical and scientific experts about the latest developments in health innovation and the big ethical and social questions they raise. The podcast is hosted by science journalist Matt Fuchs