About AHCJ: General News

AHCJ's membership passes 1,000 Date: 03/17/07

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 17, 2007

Contact:
Len Bruzzese, AHCJ executive director, 573-884-5606
Mike Stobbe, The Associated Press, membership chair, 404-522-8971

LOS ANGELES - The nine-year-old Association of Health Care Journalists reached a milestone this month, surpassing 1,000 active members for the first time. The announcement of the record 1,012 members was made at AHCJ's annual membership meeting during Health Journalism 2007.

The official 1,000th member, Heather Won Tesoriero, a reporter with The Wall Street Journal, attended the conference.

AHCJ continues to be one the fastest-growing journalism organizations in the United States, growing nearly 35 percent in the last two years. Members now represent 48 states and the District of Columbia. Internationally, AHCJ now has members in 15 nations.

"This is terrific news," said Mike Stobbe, an Associated Press reporter who serves as AHCJ membership chair. "The organization is about journalists sharing with each other to raise our profession's standard of excellence. We grow because people see the value in joining, so to see this kind of momentum is really exciting."

The association and its Center for Excellence in Health Care Journalism moved to the University of Missouri in mid-2005, where it found a home at the School of Journalism. It was originally housed at the University of Minnesota.

The association is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing public understanding of health care issues. Its mission is to improve the quality, accuracy and visibility of health care reporting, writing and editing. AHCJ was founded in 1998.