Whiteboard Animations for the Miami Firefighters Cancer Initiative

This pair of whiteboard animations was commissioned in 2017 by Dr Tyler Harrison, then at the University of Miami and now at Purdue University’s Brian Lamb School of Communication, to support the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Firefighter Cancer Initiative (FCI). Firefighters face significantly higher cancer rates than the general population, much of it from the soot and contaminants that cling to their gear after a fire. The animations were made to raise awareness and encourage firefighters to take up post-fire decontamination habits that measurably reduce that risk.

The animations supported Dr Harrison’s health communication research within the FCI, work that set out to understand firefighter culture and then design materials that could actually shift behaviour around decontamination. That research was published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Health Communication in 2018, and it fed into one of the initiative’s signature interventions: the field-decontamination routine of washing gear at the scene, which research found can cut PAH contamination on turnout jackets by a median of around 85%. The associated “green bucket” decontamination kits have since been supplied to more than 4,000 fire trucks across Florida.

It’s the kind of impact I most hope for from, creating animation that helps change a habit that actually lowers people’s cancer risk. The Firefighter Cancer Initiative, launched in 2015 and designated by the National Cancer Institute, marked its tenth anniversary in 2025, with its work now reaching fire departments across virtually every county in Florida. This was also my second project for the cancer centre, alongside my clinical trials communication animations for the University of Miami. Turning rigorous health research into something people can absorb and act on is the heart of my animation work with academics and researchers.

If you’re a researcher, university or organisation working on public health, occupational safety or behaviour change and you’d like to turn your research into animation, I’d love to hear from you. Get in touch.