Kara Gavin

Kara Gavin

Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States
1K followers 500+ connections

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About

I'm driven to explain discoveries and issues in science, medicine and health care so that…

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Activity

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Experience

Education

Volunteer Experience

  • Co-founder and executive committee member

    U-M Life Sciences Orchestra

    - Present 24 years 2 months

    I help run an amateur orchestra made up of more than 70 faculty, staff, students and alumni from all of the University of Michigan's health and life science units. I also play French horn with the group, which plays two free concerts a year at Hill Auditorium. Find out more at http://lso.med.umich.edu

  • Volunteer

    Michigan Parent Alliance for Safe Schools

    - 1 year

    Health

    I started a grassroots COVID-19 safety advocacy group for parents in the Plymouth-Canton school district and in Wayne County, Michigan, then connected with parents who had done the same in their communities statewide to create MIPASS. I created the Michigan Mask Map which tracked the adoption and rollback of school mask policies in the 2021-2022 school year in real time. The group is now a nonprofit focused on health and safety issues beyond specifically COVID-19 and I support its aims though I…

    I started a grassroots COVID-19 safety advocacy group for parents in the Plymouth-Canton school district and in Wayne County, Michigan, then connected with parents who had done the same in their communities statewide to create MIPASS. I created the Michigan Mask Map which tracked the adoption and rollback of school mask policies in the 2021-2022 school year in real time. The group is now a nonprofit focused on health and safety issues beyond specifically COVID-19 and I support its aims though I no longer volunteer for it. https://www.mipass.org/

  • Girl Scouts Heart of Michigan Graphic

    Troop co-leader

    Girl Scouts Heart of Michigan

    - 6 years 10 months

    Children

    Daisy/Brownie/Junior/Cadette troop co-leader
    I still volunteer for a Girl Scout day camp for Scouts in the Plymouth-Canton-Northville area of Michigan

  • Communications volunteer

    Vote Yes for PARC Citizens Ballot Question Committee

    - 5 months

    Helped to get the word out to voters in Plymouth, Michigan (city and township) about the November 6, 2018 ballot question regarding long-term funding for the PARC-Plymouth Arts and Recreation Complex. Created and updated website, social media presence and communications materials.

  • Community Liaison Board member

    Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study - University of Michigan

    - Present 5 years 9 months

    Health

    I am a member of a group of community members who help advise the researchers at U-M who are taking part in this very large national longitudinal study of young people that is producing important findings about mental health and more. I also write about the findings of the U-M team in my professional role.

  • Michigan Medicine Graphic

    Member, Psychiatry Patient/Family Advisory Council

    Michigan Medicine

    - Present 8 months

    Health

Projects

  • Michigan Medicine Editorial Guidelines including Research Communications guidance

    - Present

    This site, developed with colleagues from the Michigan Medicine Dept. of Communication, collects and regularly updates guidance for the hundreds of communicators across our academic medical center and university on usage, style and best practices for communicating about health, clinical care and biomedical science.

    It also references and links to the Michigan Medicine Research News Standards we developed in 2020 in response to the rapid rise in preprints in biomedical research:…

    This site, developed with colleagues from the Michigan Medicine Dept. of Communication, collects and regularly updates guidance for the hundreds of communicators across our academic medical center and university on usage, style and best practices for communicating about health, clinical care and biomedical science.

    It also references and links to the Michigan Medicine Research News Standards we developed in 2020 in response to the rapid rise in preprints in biomedical research: https://www.uofmhealth.org/news/research-news-standards

    This project was selected for a poster presentation at the inaugural MaizexBlue conference for U-M Communicators

    Other creators
    See project

  • Michigan Medicine history project

    In celebration of the 150th anniversary of the U-M's first hospital - the first to be owned and run by a university in the United States - I began researching and developing stories, social media posts, a video and a timeline tracing the history of our academic medical center. The timeline, stories and video are being moved to the new 'front door' website for Michigan Medicine and I will continue to update and expand them. I hope to do additional stories focusing on the history of various…

    In celebration of the 150th anniversary of the U-M's first hospital - the first to be owned and run by a university in the United States - I began researching and developing stories, social media posts, a video and a timeline tracing the history of our academic medical center. The timeline, stories and video are being moved to the new 'front door' website for Michigan Medicine and I will continue to update and expand them. I hope to do additional stories focusing on the history of various aspects of our institution, and to continue to celebrate our history on social media.

    See project

  • Posts on Michigan Health Lab site

    - Present

    A quick link to read the stories I've written for the Michigan Medicine news site, called Michigan Health Lab

    See project

  • Talks about working with the news media, writing op-eds and using social media as a medical researcher

    Guest lectures to classes and other groups of biomedical and health services research faculty and students, mainly at Michigan Medicine. Annual talks to faculty, National Clinician Scholars and summer research students at the U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation, the RELATE science communication summer program, the Pharmacology 502 class for biomedical graduate students, and more.

    See project

Honors & Awards

  • AAAS Fellow

    AAAS

    Elected a fellow of AAAS in Section Y: General Interest in Science & Engineering.
    AAAS release: https://www.aaas.org/news/elected-fellows-announcement-2022
    U-M release: https://news.umich.edu/17-u-m-faculty-members-named-2022-aaas-fellows/

  • Honorable Mention, AAMC Group on Institutional Advancement "Shoestring" award

    Association of Academic Medical Colleges

    Together with colleagues, won recognition for the communication campaign to promote the opening of a reimagined Taubman Health Sciences Library on the U-M medical campus

  • Elected to Phi Beta Kappa national academic honor society

    -

Organizations

  • AAMC

    Member of Group on Institutional Advancement, past member of GIA Steering Committee, presenter at GIA meeting

    - Present

    Member of the AAMC Group on Institutional Advancement, which includes communicators, government relations professionals and development professionals from U.S. and Canadian medical schools and academic medical centers. I have served as a session facilitator and speaker at GIA meetings, served on the Steering Committee and conference advisory group as well as a judge for the GIA Awards for Excellence.

  • National Association of Science Writers

    Member

    - Present

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