Nine women PhDs are leveraging their expertise as public health researchers and educators by operating a Facebook page known as Dear Pandemic to provide the public with evidence-based answers about COVID-19.

Collectively, the group has wide-ranging experience in healthcare-related fields; they also come from different walks of life in terms of geography, politics, and race and ethnicity. Their page, which currently has more than 4,000 likes, reflects their professional diversity. Recent content includes advice about managing anxiety during the pandemic, a discussion on whether or not COVID-19 can be transmitted between humans and pets, and a technical article about how some patients’ immune systems overreact to the virus.

The page’s most common posts answer questions about practical aspects of daily life during “the new normal” of the pandemic, such as food preparation, grocery shopping, and monitoring COVID-like symptoms, according to a press release by Lindsey Leininger, a researcher and clinical professor who specializes in the healthcare of vulnerable populations.

The Dear Pandemic page is committed to “avoiding politics and sticking to the data” when dispensing advice, according to the press release. Leininger noted that she and her collaborators rely primarily on information from federal scientific agencies, medical associations, and briefs from trusted thought leaders in the healthcare industry.

“We feel grateful for the trust and openness that others have given us as their COVID ‘nerd node of trust,’” she stated in the release.

The group, which calls itself “Nerdy Girls,” was founded by Malia Jones, an assistant scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Alison Buttenheim, an associate professor of nursing and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania.