Guest Post: Bernard Appiah—Your New Servant

[Note: I’m delighted to report that the AuthorAID team has a new member: graduate assistant Bernard Appiah. Bernard will be helping with AuthorAID in a variety of ways. In this week’s blog post, Bernard introduces himself. Please join me in welcoming him. –Barbara]

I am a young pharmacist from Ghana with an interest in science and scientific communication.

My interest in science communication has helped me communicate science to a wider audience through the mass media—newspapers, radio, television, and the Internet.

I am involved in scientific communication in two main ways. First, I have been refining scientific articles for publication in the Ghana Pharmaceutical Journal and the National Drug Information Journal—both in Ghana—since 2004. From September 2008 through August 2009, I was an intern at a publication of the Council of Science Editors called Science Editor. The internship has helped sharpen my writing and editing skills.

Second, I am a learner of scientific communication. I am a second-year graduate student of science and technology journalism at Texas A&M University. In addition, I am pursuing a master’s degree in development communication at the University of the Philippines Open University.

These backgrounds have made me discover an unfortunate truth: Some research works undertaken in developing countries go unpublished because the researchers lack the skills and resources for writing.

Therefore, joining AuthorAID—“a global research community that provides networking, mentoring, resources and training for researchers in developing countries”—as a graduate intern seems to me like marrying a perfect partner.  And you can expect this “marriage” to be full of excitement and success.

I look forward to serving you and helping you to write about and publish your work.