Biologist Alba Álvarez Morán, researcher at the Instituto Universitario de Oncologia de Asturias (IUOPA) and collaborator with this newspaper in its section “Alba Science,” will teach next Friday at the 2nd Science and Innovation Fair of Asturias (Fábrica de Armas de Oviedo 6:30 p.m. ) A lecture on “Cancer and Social Networks”, from his media experience there.
– Was explaining what cancer is on TikTok your biggest challenge as a scientist?
– In my case, communication and science have always gone hand in hand in my work as a researcher. She began spreading the word at face-to-face events before moving to networking and as she contacted patients she realized that part of the fear associated with the disease came online. I did a European science publishing project on TikTok and there I suddenly found myself with all the pseudoscience and fraud that patients and their families were coming into contact with. Many of them use networks of this kind in search of answers to reasonable doubts. I found a lot of quackery, from the fact that cancer is caused by trauma and atrocities like that, to all sorts of supposed home remedies, including the consumption of toxic products. I saw a good opportunity for people to understand how to deal with the disease and debunk a lot of myths and hoaxes. If science and scientists do not take care of this, these spaces will continue to be occupied by people who benefit financially from the lack of knowledge and desperation of patients.
-Is it possible to make your voice heard amidst all this noise?
– There is a percentage of people who are difficult to convince because they are also fanatics and are completely against the person in the white coat and they will not come there anymore. But there are many other people who are in an average environment, and want to choose the best, but they do not know, these users can change and make a better clinical decision for themselves if they have enough information. This is where I focus. I can't change the opinions of a thousand people, but I can spread my information as far as I can.
– Is the key to knowing how to use TikTok language?
-It is true that we have to use strategies like having good traction, using a common language, and making things dynamic, attractive and visual. Competition to search for information about cancer exists, and who among us has more correct information, meaning that it has been proven by experiments behind it, so scientists or specialized journalists have a social responsibility in this and the way is to use marketing tools to attract attention, just as fake publishers do.
– How can the media themselves contribute by reporting such issues?
– There are many communication resources that could be improved. In this sense, patient associations are doing a great job and setting an example of good practice. In my opinion, I think we should get rid of the aggressive language in the vocabulary related to cancer: it is not a battle, nor are those who achieve five-year tumor-free survival the winners, because what happens to those who have a relapse or metastasis appears… Lost the battle? Or talk about cancer as if it were an infection, which is not the case. Rather, our cells are not working well, and understanding this is essential so that we do not feel frustrated if the treatment does not respond. That rigor that may seem unimportant is not.
