V38 N3 / 2023 

©2023 American Medical Writers Association. All rights reserved.  
ISSN 2163-5315

AMWAJournal.org     39

The John P. McGovern Award is named in honor of John P. 
McGovern and is presented to a member or nonmember of 
AMWA to recognize a preeminent contribution to any of the 
various modes of medical communication. The McGovern 
Award is presented during AMWA’s Medical Writing & 
Communication Conference.

One of the perks of being the AMWA president is select-
ing the recipient of the McGovern Award. I am thrilled to 
announce that our 2023 McGovern Award recipients are 
Dr Jessica Steier and Dr Andrea Love in recognition of their 
work to communicate science on social media and via their 
Unbiased Science podcast, which critically appraises avail-
able evidence on health-related topics relevant to the public 
in an approachable way.
 Dr Steier and Dr Love began their Unbiased Science pod-
cast during the pandemic as a way to counter misinforma-
tion and misconceptions about COVID-19. The podcast has 
expanded to other topics, ranging from mammograms to 
vaping to health and wellness trends on social media. The 
podcast has a Substack as a permanent repository of their 
sources, allowing their audience to delve into the details and 
reliably return to content. For those of you into infograph-
ics, you should check out their unbiasedscipod Instagram, 
which has a wealth of health-related infographics.
 In addition, Dr Steier and Dr Love’s work involves train-
ing the next generation of science communicators. Their 
Unbiased Science team includes several interns who do 
research and infographic design. Furthermore, Dr Steier 
and Dr Love have founded the Unbiased Science Institute 
to improve science literacy, help people be better consum-
ers of scientific information, and train the next generation 
of science communicators. The institute works with public 
health leaders, students in science, technology, engineering, 
and math, and community organizations, and its programs 
include education, training, and community engagement to 
build health and scientific literacy.

 Although Dr Steier and Dr Love work on health issues 
in different ways—macro (public health) and micro 
(immunology/microbiology), respectively—their areas 
of expertise enable them to provide a comprehensive 
perspective on various scientific topics. Please join me in 
congratulating our 2023 McGovern Award winners, and I 
hope you join me in hearing their talk at the 2023 Medical 
Writing & Communication Conference in Baltimore.

2023 John P. McGovern Award Recipients  
Jessica B. Steier, DrPH, PMP, and Andrea C. Love, PhD 
Elise Eller, PhD  / 2022-2023 AMWA President

AMWA NEWS

Dr Jessica Steier is a public health scientist with expertise 
in public health policy, biostatistics, and advanced analytics. 
Dr Andrea Love is an immunologist and microbiologist, with 
expertise in infectious disease immunology, cancer immu-
nology, and autoimmunity. Dr Steier and Dr Love believe 
strongly in scientific education and health literacy and the 
translation of research for the general public, and their Un-
biased Science podcast is devoted to the objective, critical 
appraisal of available evidence on science and health-relat-
ed topics relevant to listeners’ daily lives.

Figure. Dr Andrea C. Love (left) and Dr Jessica B. Steier (right),  
cofounders of the Unbiased Science podcast and the Unbiased 
Science Institute.

http://www.amwajournal.org
https://www.unbiasedscipod.com/
https://substack.com/@theunbiasedscipod
https://www.instagram.com/unbiasedscipod/
https://www.unbiasedscience.org/