Jan. 5, 2026 — When Bayli DiVita Dean, Ph.D. ’20, began her graduate studies at the University of Florida College of Medicine, she imagined a career at the bench. She didn’t expect that the skills she sharpened in the lab would lead her to a new calling: making science more accessible to audiences far beyond academia and illuminating discoveries that shape everyday life.

After working in the lab, DiVita Dean pivoted her efforts toward working in the adjacent field of science communications, aiming to bridge the gap between those conducting medical research and the people impacted by it.

DiVita Dean’s interest in science was born from personal experience. When she was 11, her 39-year-old mother was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. Divita Dean accompanied her to oncology appointments, inquisitively asking the health care team questions.

“I knew I wanted to do something to help people like her,” she said.

She became determined to pursue the medical research path after high school and transferred to UF during her undergraduate studies, where she worked in labs researching colon cancer and stem cell therapies as she studied biology.

A mentor encouraged her to apply to the College of Medicine’s doctoral program. After being accepted and beginning her doctoral studies, she became interested in exploring immunology and the ways the immune system could be used to fight cancer.

She joined the lab of Catherine Flores, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Lillian S. Wells Department of Neurosurgery, who guided her as she completed her dissertation on intracranial brain tumors and how they impact hematopoietic stem cells, the precursors to all immune cells.

“Dr. Flores was a phenomenal mentor, and we still talk to this day,” DiVita Dean said.

Following graduation, she collaborated with Christian Jobin, Ph.D., the Gatorade Trust Distinguished Professor of Medicine at UF and a researcher at the UF Health Cancer Institute, as a member of the inaugural Team-based Interdisciplinary Cancer Research Training, or TICaRT, Program cohort, where DiVita Dean researched brain and colon cancer and how the gut microbiome influences response to immunotherapy.

In early March 2020, DiVita Dean participated in a science policy Capitol Hill Day — during which field experts meet with lawmakers — just ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the virus circulated throughout the U.S., DiVita Dean noticed the widespread misinformation and lack of understanding regarding infection prevention.

“It really highlighted the need for clear, accurate communication among scientists, the public and policymakers,” she said.

She decided to reorient her career with the goal of improving communication about medical research to wide groups of people.

DiVita Dean’s science communications career began at the American Brain Tumor Association as a marketing communications manager, where she promoted the organization’s research to raise awareness and funding for further research needs. She later began a science and technology policy fellowship with the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Science Policy but moved back to Florida to be closer to family.

DiVita Dean recently founded BDD Communications, a science communications consulting company to help organizations better convey their messaging to audiences.

She is currently consulting for the American Brain Tumor Association, the nonprofit organization where she previously worked.

“At a nonprofit level, there tends to be very small funding compared to somewhere like the NIH, so you’re often using seed money for pilot experiments that may be promising but need a bit more time before researchers understand the potential implications of their findings,” she said.

She also helps the association with its marketing efforts for grants.

“Marketing and advertising this work is really important so we can continue to fund great efforts in the brain cancer realm,” she said.

As someone who entered the field of science communications with an initial background and interest in medical research, DiVita Dean said it’s fundamental for scientists and scientists-in-training to learn how to communicate their work to various groups. This will not only improve scientists’ chances of receiving funding, she said, but will also help to shape further policy that can continue to improve health.

“Start with your family and friends who may or may not have experience in the sciences and see if you can try to explain what you’re doing in terms they can understand,” she said. “And from there, talking with members of your community would be a next logical step so you can have great conversations between you and your colleagues or someone you pass on the street that might be interested in what you’re doing.”

DiVita Dean said participation in processes like UF’s Three Minute Thesis competition was one way that she could work on improving her communication about her research area while in school.

The excitement that can come from appreciating scientific breakthroughs is a rewarding part of being a science communicator, DiVita Dean said.

“Working in the rare cancer space, I saw how much hope patients and families get from discoveries when they can actually understand the findings,” she said. “For example, a recent publication from collaborators at UF and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center found that if cancer patients get the COVID-19 vaccine, they seem to have a better response to immunotherapy. The study got so much attention, and I’m glad it did, because people were so excited to think, ‘Oh my gosh, if I get this shot and continue taking my immunotherapy drugs, it could have a really great outcome for my cancer.’ I think that’s so important to create that sense of hope. Especially in the rare disease space where breakthroughs are few and far between, these types of studies highlight the value of basic and clinical research.”