This Public Health Conversation Starter features Matthew Motta, Assistant Professor of Health Law, Policy, & Management at BUSPH, in conversation with Yvette Cozier, BUSPH Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice. Dr. Motta shares about his recent book, Anti-Scientific Americans: The Prevalence, Origins, and Political Consequences of Anti-Intellectualism in the US.

Our Conversation Starters engage leading thinkers in short discussions around issues of consequence in public health. This Starter is part of SPH Reads, our school-wide reading program hosted by the Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice. In conjunction with this year’s book selection, Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right, Dean Cozier is having discussions with leaders on the themes of political divides, class, and race.

Resources

Transcript_In Conversation with Matthew Motta

Speakers

Matt Motta

Assistant Professor, Health Law, Policy, and Management, BUSPH

Matt Motta

Assistant Professor, Health Law, Policy, and Management, BUSPH

Welcome! I am an Assistant Professor of Health Law, Policy, & Management at Boston University’s School of Public Health.

Previously, I was Assistant Professor of Political Science (American Politics, Research Methods) at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, OK. Before that, I was a Science of Science Communication postdoctoral fellow at the Annenberg Public Policy Center (University of Pennsylvania). I was also based at the Yale Law School, where I was an affiliated postdoctoral scholar at the Cultural Cognition Project. I received my PhD in Political Science from the University of Minnesota, where I was also a National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellow and Doctoral Dissertation Fellow.

My research focuses on a wide range of topics related to American politics, public opinion, science communication, and both health and environmental policy. I am especially interested in identifying the social and political determinants of anti-science attitudes, and investigating their health policy impact. I am also broadly interested in designing communication strategies that promote effective engagement between the public and the scientific community on politically contentious issues. My forthcoming book Anti-Scientific Americans (Oxford University Press, 2024) explores the prevalence, origins, and consequences of anti-intellectualism in the United States, and is currently available for pre-order on Amazon.

My research has been published in academic journals across the social and medical sciences (e.g., American Journal of Public Health, Social Science & Medicine, Vaccine, Nature Climate Change, Scientific Reports), and featured in popular press outlets like The New York Times, The Washington Post, Scientific American, PBS Newshour, and the CBS Evening News.

As part of my research activities, I also conduct public health opinion research as a Research Fellow at the Policy Lab at Brown University, and piloting health communication campaign strategies as Affiliated Faculty with Harvard’s TH Chan School of Public Health.

I am a political analyst for Spectrum News, and regularly comment on both my research and current events for print and television outlets. I am available for commentary on both local and national politics (including, but not limited to, discussions health politics and policy).