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Healthcare on the March: Scenes From the March for Science
Laurie Scudder, DNP, NP | April 27, 2017
| Contributor Information
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Image from Olivier Douliery/Medscape
Healthcare on the March: Scenes From the March for Science
Laurie Scudder, DNP, NP | April 27, 2017 | Contributor Information
The March for Science
The March for Science was held in over 600 cities worldwide on Saturday, April 22, 2017. In a rainy Washington, DC, marchers proceeded from the Washington Monument grounds to the front of the Capitol.
Image courtesy of The Endocrine Society
Healthcare on the March: Scenes From the March for Science
Laurie Scudder, DNP, NP | April 27, 2017 | Contributor Information
Marchers From the Endocrine Society
Healthcare professionals, healthcare organizations, and health-related messages were prominent themes at the march. The Endocrine Society was a co-sponsor, and members gathered outside of their office to march together.
Image from Olivier Douliery/Medscape
Healthcare on the March: Scenes From the March for Science
Laurie Scudder, DNP, NP | April 27, 2017 | Contributor Information
Mona Hanna-Attisha, MD, Pediatrician and March Honorary Co-chair
Mona Hanna-Attisha, MD, a pediatrician and public health advocate who helped the community of Flint, Michigan, confirm and share data on water sources poisoned by lead, spoke at the Washington, DC, march. "As scientists and doctors, we have a moral obligation to speak out in service to our communities. Likewise, the life-and-death implications intertwined with the science of climate change, vaccines, and air pollution are moral issues. We march for science so that scientists have the freedom, like I did, to speak out, free from politicization, and to continue to make the world a better place."[1]
Image from Stephanie Cajigal/Medscape
Healthcare on the March: Scenes From the March for Science
Laurie Scudder, DNP, NP | April 27, 2017 | Contributor Information
Los Angeles
Unlike the rain that greeted marchers on the East Coast, Los Angeles participants enjoyed sunshine. Thousands of participants—by some estimates, the largest attendance of any city—marched through 90º weather.
Image from Stephanie Cajigal/Medscape
Healthcare on the March: Scenes From the March for Science
Laurie Scudder, DNP, NP | April 27, 2017 | Contributor Information
Physicians Marching in LA
Drs Irving Ackerman, Neil Kogut, and Thomas Mahrer joined the LA march. Dr Kogut told Medscape that the impetus for the march wasn't "a left or right issue. This is an issue that cuts across all political viewpoints. The bedrock for progress is the belief in science, whether it's to address societal inequality or climate change."
Image from Lisa Nainggolan/Medscape
Healthcare on the March: Scenes From the March for Science
Laurie Scudder, DNP, NP | April 27, 2017 | Contributor Information
London
Marches took place around the globe. Thousands gathered in London, where researchers are apprehensive about the potential effects of Brexit on research funding and collaboration with scientists in other European Union countries.
Image from Tricia Ward/Medscape
Healthcare on the March: Scenes From the March for Science
Laurie Scudder, DNP, NP | April 27, 2017 | Contributor Information
New York City
Event organizers insisted that the goal of the march was not political, noting in their mission that the goal was to unite "as a diverse, nonpartisan group to call for science that upholds the common good and for political leaders and policy makers to enact evidence-based policies in the public interest."[2] However, politics inevitably crept in.
Image from Miriam Tucker/Medscape
Healthcare on the March: Scenes From the March for Science
Laurie Scudder, DNP, NP | April 27, 2017 | Contributor Information
Physicians Marching for Science
Medical advances, past and future, were a major theme of marchers. Physicians with the Infectious Diseases Society of America promoted the importance of vaccines.
Image from Fredy Perojo/Medscape
Healthcare on the March: Scenes From the March for Science
Laurie Scudder, DNP, NP | April 27, 2017 | Contributor Information
Medical Students
Medical students from New York University joined the march in NYC, proudly sporting their white lab coats.
Image from Olivier Douliery/Medscape
Healthcare on the March: Scenes From the March for Science
Laurie Scudder, DNP, NP | April 27, 2017 | Contributor Information
Nurses on the March
Nurses also joined the action. These nurses who marched in Washington, DC, sported signs featuring Florence Nightingale which emphasized that nursing is a science.
Image from Laurie Scudder/Medscape
Healthcare on the March: Scenes From the March for Science
Laurie Scudder, DNP, NP | April 27, 2017 | Contributor Information
Patients
Healthcare professionals weren't the only ones marching in support of medical research. Patients, too, voiced their support for medical research, as seen in this sign held by Alex Dane, a student from Dallas, Texas, who joined marchers in DC.
Image from Jennifer Leavitt/Medscape
Healthcare on the March: Scenes From the March for Science
Laurie Scudder, DNP, NP | April 27, 2017 | Contributor Information
The Next Generation
Kids got into the act too, with messages for their elders, as seen in this sign carried by a child in New York City.
Image from Olivier Douliery/Medscape
Healthcare on the March: Scenes From the March for Science
Laurie Scudder, DNP, NP | April 27, 2017 | Contributor Information
Georges Benjamin, MD
Research funding was a major theme of marchers and speakers at marches around the globe. Georges Benjamin, MD, executive director of the American Public Health Association, in his remarks at the Washington, DC, event stressed the need for adequate funding: "A nation that ignores science, that denies science, that underfunds science, does so at its own peril."
Image from Laurie Scudder/Medscape
Healthcare on the March: Scenes From the March for Science
Laurie Scudder, DNP, NP | April 27, 2017 | Contributor Information
Fund Research
Put another way, as the sign emphasized, participants of all specialties and passions made clear their position that not funding medical research is not likely to save the nation any money.
Image from Olivier Douliery/Medscape
Healthcare on the March: Scenes From the March for Science
Laurie Scudder, DNP, NP | April 27, 2017 | Contributor Information
What's Next?
After a feel-good day for scientists and supporters of science who took part in the marches, a key question is: What's next?
Many worry that joining science to politics will eventually damage the reputation of the scientific community. Others take the opposite view and argue that the energy in the streets as evidenced by the marches must now be turned into sustained science advocacy. A new advocacy website, called 314 Action, is urging scientists to run for office.
Bill Nye, known to generations of citizens as the Science Guy, in his remarks at the Washington, DC, event emphasized the need for continued action: "Our numbers here today show the world that science is for all. Our lawmakers must know and accept that science serves every one of us."[3]
Physicians Make Themselves Heard at the March for Science
As both march speakers and participants, physicians expressed concern for public health and research funding but also voiced hope for the beginning of a movement to elevate the role of science in society. Medscape Medical News, April 2017
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