In the shadow of political attacks on science, Tina Purnat calls for repairing the social contract between evidence and society.
With unprecedented attacks on science that have curbed the freedom to work, collaborate, and move across borders, it’s clear that the anti-science agenda hasn’t been limited to just rhetoric, it’s extended to dismantling the very institutions responsible for producing evidence. That’s the backdrop for Tina D. Purnat’s keynote, “Trust is a verb,” at the AAHMS 2025 Annual Meeting.
“It’s the talk that confronts the uncomfortable truth: when the foundations of health and medical science are under siege, good communication alone won’t save us.”
We live in an era when health information spreads with the speed of a tweet, and doubt spreads faster than an airborne virus in an unventilated room. That leaves researchers and clinicians with an urgent challenge: how do we rebuild and maintain confidence in medicine? Few are better placed to grapple with this question than Tina Purnat, whose keynote, “Trust Is a Verb: Reimagining Confidence in an Age of Doubt”, promises not just analysis but a call to action.
Purnat doesn’t view trust as a passive commodity to be distributed; she sees it as something earned, nurtured, and continuously renewed. With over two decades of experience at institutions including WHO, ECDC, and at Harvard, her work lies at the intersection of infodemic management, evidence policy, digital health, and health system innovation.
“Too often, trust is framed simply as better messaging,” she says. “But being louder doesn’t build trust. Trust is earned through relationships – between patients and providers, citizens and systems, policy and evidence.”
That means communication alone is not enough.
As she notes, “Good communication doesn’t matter if we don’t uphold the very institutions that produce the evidence base we’re trying to communicate. Without strong, credible institutions, our communication efforts are futile.”
It’s a sobering point at a time when scientific integrity itself is under fire. “We currently live in a time when it’s not that the evidence is being disputed,” Purnat observes, “It’s that the very institutions producing that evidence are being dismantled. If those foundations crumble, trust in science won’t just weaken, it will collapse.”
Among her many contributions, Purnat led units at WHO that built frameworks for infodemic response, designing ways for health authorities to detect information voids, respond to misinformation, and integrate community concerns into health messaging. She’s also deeply involved in designing digital health solutions, AI governance, and data systems that are transparent and equitable.
In “Trust is a verb”, she will explore how the social contract between health systems and communities has frayed, undercut by inequity, political interference, and the spread of misinformation. But she doesn’t leave it there. She’ll show how trust can be repaired: by acting in ways worthy of trust; by renewing the obligations of care and accountability; and by reimagining the relationship between science and society. “We need to walk forward together,” she suggests, “not as experts speaking down, but as partners listening up.”
Why this talk is a must-see at AAHMS 2025: because the gaps aren’t just theoretical, they manifest in delays in diagnosis, vaccine hesitancy, disparities in care, and mistrust of public health guidance. As Purnat’s work repeatedly shows, once trust is eroded, it costs more than money to rebuild.
If you’re a researcher or clinician committed to not just knowing, but being trusted; if you believe science must walk in step with society, this keynote will sharpen your frame, challenge assumptions, and leave you with both urgency and hope.
Join Tina Purnat in reimagining what it means to build and earn trust in health and medical science. Get your ticket to AAHMS 2025 now, and be part of the conversation we urgently need.
📅 Wednesday 29 – Thursday 30 October 2025
📍 Old Parliament House, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory
📝 Register here: AAHMS Annual Meeting 2025
