beating them off with a stick....

...or at least two of them.
I had someone from the school newsletter interview me about my PhD (slow news day). She sent me the article - which was hugely misinterpretable and made it sound like I had just about cured cancer (or my disease) so my supervisor and I fixed the worst misscommunications and sent it back. This is the problem with trying to explain pure science in laymans terms and give them a reference point. I should have done more to squelch her enthusiasm as it then went to all the news outlets across Australia I think.

I just had to have a conversation with an associated press person (another slow news day) and explain that what I was doing was foundation science without any immediate practical application to human health. I did say that in the long term, should we get funding and students to do the work, the work I had done would be a foundation for possible human therapy. I should have made that clearer to the first interviewer, but practice makes perfect I guess.

I gave her some names of people with more interest in current human treatment etc., who also have experience with the press, so hopefully she will completely forget about me.

As a scientist, who may need public interest in my work to achieve funding, I should be more eager to talk to the Press - but I'm not. I'll happily write them something, but talking to them fills me with dread.

edited because I can't spell