Behind the Science with Arrthy Thayaparan
Interviewee: Arrthy Thayaparan, B.Sc., M.J., University of British Columbia | Authors/Editors: Negin Nia & Romina Garcia de leon (Blog Co-coordinators)
Published: May 20th, 2022
The Women’s Health Research Cluster (WHRC) started the blog back in 2020 to showcase work on the experiences of women and gender-diverse people wanting to make a change in the women’s health field.
This week we spoke to Arrthy, one of the first blog co-coordinators of the WHRC blog, about her experience working for the blog and what got her interested in pursuing work in the field of women’s health.
Why did you decide to pursue work as a blog co-coordinator?
I come from a science academic background from my undergrad and coming into my masters of journalism, I wanted to continue learning and sharing stories on science and health journalism. When I found out about the blog through the work learn website, I was just really excited. I actually applied to every single option available with a WHRC, but the blog was a much better fit to help fine tune my non-academic, journalistic writing.
As a lover of science who was starting her journalism career, the WHRC was just a great way to help me learn those essential communication skills and to keep in touch with the world of academia. It’s not everyday that you are able to work with a truly thoughtful and energetic team, while also peering behind the scenes into a research cluster that is doing some valuable work in the field.
Out of all the scientific fields you were exposed to, why women’s health?
I got into science journalism, because I became aware of the lack of science-trained journalists who knew the field and could communicate it to a general audience. From there, I began to realize that women’s health is wholly underrepresented, especially in the media.
For example, during the pandemic there were a lot of worries and myths on fertility, pregnancy and vaccinations. So through the blog we prioritized getting that conversation going and having more people think about women’s health as part of science and research that’s happening in the now. That realization and effort to engage worked out in the end, since those are some of our most widely read blogs.
What impact do you hope the blog will have in the field of women’s health going forward?
When the blog first started, it was pretty small. We didn’t have too many readers or much engagement, but with the work that we’ve done over the past two years now, it’s grown a lot. Recently, we were voted the 8th top Women’s Health blog by FeedSpot.
Seeing that growth in just two years was really motivating for everyone on the team. I think with that momentum, the blog could go on to become a staple in women’s health awareness and education. This is especially true with how diverse the WHRC members are globally and knowledge-wise, there is so much potential work that will definitely continue to push the blog forward.
Do you see yourself integrating women’s health in your future roles?
Oh, absolutely! I think working here has really opened my eyes to so many topics within the sciences. In fact, I’ve always tried my best to work with experts or researchers from the WHRC in my work or from similar clusters in stories I’ve done while working here. For example, Dr. Jade Boyd was a huge help for one of my biggest stories last year on understanding overdose reversals in B.C. and what impact that had on frontline workers of the overdose crisis. I’m so proud of that work and collaboration, and I’ll definitely always keep coming back to the WHRC and the blog to keep myself up to date and to stay connected.
Is there anything else you would like to mention?
I’m grateful to everyone at the WHRC for having me on, to the writers of the blogs for their ideas and passion, and the readers for allowing us to continue sharing this essential work. I was never alone in this work, so I’m thankful to Alex Lukey and Negin Nia, my blog co-coordinators, for bearing with me when things got stressful with school and supporting each other with the work.
Also, I don’t think enough credit is given to the support we receive from Katherine Moore, Director of Operations & Strategic Initiatives, and Liisa Galea, Cluster Lead. No matter what crazy idea we brought forward, like this series Behind the Science or creating a Medium page, they were always onboard and excited with us! None of this would be possible without their vision or passion for knowledge translation and women’s health, so I’m beyond grateful to have had the opportunity to work with them.
Other than that, I’m really excited to see how the blog continues to grow, and I hope that one day I can write for the blog or about the blog!
How can people reach you?
People can follow me on Twitter (@ArrthyT) to keep up with my work, and feel free to message me to talk about potential stories or anything science-related.
