Biostatistician Lucy McGowan Offers Guide to Online Health Research

Lucy McGowan, a biostatistician at Wake Forest University, has published a step‑by‑step guide for the public to conduct online health research using scientific methods. She advises readers to first frame a health question by defining the exposure or intervention, the desired outcome, the target population, and the time frame, and to record these elements in an “evidence table.”

McGowan then recommends starting with systematic reviews, which synthesize all available studies on a topic, before examining individual studies. The guide aims to help people navigate the overwhelming amount of medical information online and evaluate evidence more reliably.

The article, originally appearing in The Conversation, is intended for anyone seeking to make informed health decisions, such as evaluating the benefits of fish‑oil supplementation during pregnancy.