Post by UC San Diego

How do you turn years of research into just three minutes? 🎤 At UC San Diego’s Grad SLAM and Postdoc PITCH, graduate students and postdoctoral scholars took on the challenge of distilling years of research into compelling, accessible talks with real-world impact. This year’s top winners highlighted how powerful clear science communication can be: Joanna Eckhardt, a PhD student in neurosciences, earned first place at Grad SLAM for her talk on how daily activity patterns shape sleep and brain health. Her research explores how chronotypes, whether you’re an early bird or a night owl, along with when and how much you move, may influence long-term brain health and Alzheimer’s disease risk. Ido Avivi, a postdoctoral scholar in cardiovascular medicine, took top honors at Postdoc PITCH with research focused on preventing heart attacks. His work examines how widely used GLP-1 medications may reduce inflammation around the heart, opening new possibilities for more targeted prevention strategies. From brain health to heart disease, these presentations show what’s possible when researchers connect their work to the broader public. Because discovery doesn’t just depend on innovation, it depends on communication. Link to learn more in comments below. #UCSD #GradSLAM