Atif Kukaswadia is a currently a PhD candidate at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. According to his father, an accountant, Atif was becoming a cancer researcher. That’s what he proudly told his friends. Without any scientists in his family there were no reference points for Atif’s chosen career – in epidemiology. An ologist is an ologist, right?

In his delivery of a TedX talk at Queens, Atif explained that when a paper he’d authored while in his master’s program gained media attention, he realized he didn’t know how to talk to the media, which means he realized that not everyone talks like a scientist. Eureka! He could thank his dad for that keen perception.

Science is awesome, Atif says. Non-scientists need to know how awesome it is, and that starts with understanding why scientists are scientists.
Atif writes for the PLOS Blogs network when he’s not researching how the social environment shapes our lives and personalities. He actively promotes and supports science outreach and dissemination through his twitter feed, @MrEpid, and his blog, www.MrEpidemiology.com.