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A more personal issue this time: the story behind why we write for patients, and what our testers have asked us to build first.

The research we couldn't understand

Three years ago, someone I love was diagnosed with cancer.

In the weeks around that diagnosis, we read everything Macmillan and Cancer Research UK had written. When we'd read it all, we kept going, into the research papers themselves. I communicate science for a living, and still I couldn't understand them. They were written for other researchers. Nobody had written recent, relevant research findings with patients in mind.

All is well now, and that experience is part of why Peelback exists. I've written about what we've learnt since, including what has changed in law for patients who take part in clinical trials, and five things publishers, sponsors and communicators can do. If I had to keep one, it would be this: put a named, accountable person behind every summary written for patients.

What our testers are teaching us

Testing is still going, but one thing is already at the top of the list. Researchers don't only want their findings in plain words. They want something they can share: a card they can post, put on a slide or send to a colleague, that looks as considered as the research behind it.

So that's what we're building now: ready-to-share cards, made from each paper, for LinkedIn and presentations.

We'd love a few more researchers to try it. If you've published a paper and would like to see what Peelback makes of it for patients, clinicians and policymakers, reply to this email.