May 19 to 25 marked the 17th International Thyroid Awareness Week, with this year's theme: "Check Thyroid Function in Physical Exams, Take Control of Health Early." On May 20, several industry experts gathered in Beijing to exchange views on thyroid screening, health science communication, and public education.
Image 1: MeDomino founder and CEO Lu Wenqing (first from left) was invited to the 17th International Thyroid Awareness Week exchange event
Enriching Science Communication Matrices and Innovating Communication Paths for a Long-Term Prescription
Popularizing thyroid health knowledge requires rich formats and professional content, while also using modern information technology to keep innovating education and linking multiple forces to build a stronger public health awareness network.
Lin Yansong, Chair of the Thyroid Disease Branch of the China International Exchange and Promotive Association for Medical and Health Care, believes that science communication work has multiple meanings for clinicians. "Through the 'Remove the False, Preserve the True' activity, we found that science communication creation helps doctors focus on common patient questions, thereby simplifying clinical diagnosis and treatment and improving efficiency. It also supports the development of young doctors, improves doctor-patient communication, and optimizes the patient care experience." She advocates that health science communication should be accessible, novel, and practical while remaining scientific, professional, and accurate. "AI has now become a way for many people to seek health knowledge, but people should take an objective attitude toward the accuracy, scientific validity, and timeliness of the content it generates to avoid being misled. In addition, AI can only popularize basic knowledge. It does not have doctors' clinical experience or disease insight, cannot conduct doctor-patient communication, and cannot replace clinical diagnosis and treatment. Professional diagnosis from doctors is still needed."
On why AI can produce incorrect information, MeDomino founder Lu Wenqing believes the reason is that the knowledge update speed of large AI models has not kept pace with medical progress. "The essence of a large AI model is the probability of preset knowledge. As new medical knowledge and new treatment methods continue to emerge, the model's data reserves must also be updated in sync. Multiple parties can collaborate to develop medical knowledge-base tools, enabling AI to output science communication content more quickly and accurately." He also advised patients to approach AI rationally and ultimately follow the treatment plan provided by doctors.
Image 2: MeDomino founder and CEO Lu Wenqing
"Merck focuses on healthcare, life science, and electronics. While providing diverse medical service solutions for Chinese patients, it has also explored health science communication." Mao Jingmei, Vice President of Healthcare and Head of Medical Affairs at Merck China, said that Merck releases thyroid science communication content through multiple channels and helps improve public awareness of thyroid diseases through integrated online and offline communication. She believes digitalization plays a positive role in science communication. "Merck Medical Affairs established a Digital Medical Advisor project team this year. By building a large AI model platform, it is exploring applications of artificial intelligence in science communication innovation, hoping to create more possibilities for improving public thyroid health and patient services." (Feng Sizheng)
*This article is excerpted from People.cn's "Emphasizing Thyroid Function Screening for Early Disease Prevention and Expanding Science Communication to Build a Strong Awareness Defense."
