Natalia Pasternak Taschner

Focus Areas: Science Communication, Science Policy, Public Health, Biotechnology, Science and Society

Natalia Pasternak is a microbiologist, science writer and communicator. Her research, teaching and advocacy work focus on how to improve science communication, vaccine uptake and combat denialism and misinformation, bringing scientific thinking for future policy makers, and helping to create an international collaboration for science-based global policies. She holds a PhD and postdoctoral experience in Microbiology, in the field of Microbial Genetics at the University of São Paulo, Brazil. She is the former director in Brazil of the international festival of scientific communication “Pint of Science” (UK), columnist for the Brazilian national newspaper "O Globo", for The Skeptic magazine (UK), and former columnist for Medscape (WebMD). For three years, she hosted two weekly radio shows “The hour of Science” at Brazil's CBN national radio station. She has published more than 300 science popularization articles, as well as books and scientific papers. Her publications have been featured in high-impact journals and media outlets. She is currently president of Question of Science Institute, the first Brazilian Institute for the promotion of science-based public policy. She is the first Brazilian to become a fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI) – USA, in recognition of outstanding work in the promotion of science, skepticism and critical thinking. In 2020, and again in 2021, she was chosen Brazilian of the year in Science by IstoE Magazine. She was chosen Personality of the year by the Group of Latin America Daily Newspapers, and received the Ockham Award from The Skeptic magazine, for the promotion of skepticism and rational thinking in Brazil. She has written three books on popularization of science, Science in our daily lives, which won Brazil's National Literature prize for best science book in 2021 (Prêmio Jabuti), Against Reality: science denialism, its causes and consequences, and What Nonsense, pseudosciences and other crazy allegations that should not be taken seriously, the latter became a best-seller a month after the launch, reaching number 1 in the non-fiction category in all major book sales lists in Brazil. She is editor of the book series “What Science Says”, by Columbia University Press. She was the only Brazilian listed by BBC as the 100 most influential women of 2021, at the Jerusalem Post as one of the 50 most influential jews in the world in 2022, she won the Balles Prize for the promotion of critical thinking in 2022. She serves as a member of the Strategic Advisory Group on Vaccine-Preventable Diseases of the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), and on the Board of Experts of the Fleming Institute (UK).