About AHCJ: General News

AHCJ selects second class of International Health Study Fellows Date: 10/31/19

COLUMBIA, Mo. – The Association of Health Care Journalists has awarded its AHCJ International Health Study Fellowships to four journalists who intend to pursue significant projects in the first half of 2020. The program, supported by The Commonwealth Fund, is meant to help veteran U.S.-based journalists compare elements of the U.S. health system with those of other countries.

The program for mid-career journalists is intended to give print, broadcast and online reporters an opportunity to study how one element of the U.S. health care system is handled in another country and to report on the differences. Fellows will interview patients, health care providers and policymakers in the United States and abroad.

The 2020 fellows and their projects will be:

  • April Dembosky, health reporter, KQED-San Francisco (@adembosky)

    Dembosky will examine how the U.S. approach to dealing with women who harm their children compares to Britain’s synchronized legal and mental health efforts to treat postpartum depression and psychosis.

  • Elana Gordon, health and science reporter/producer, The World/Public Radio International (@Elana_Gordon)

    Gordon will be looking at what can be learned from Portugal’s drug treatment system, and its National Plan Against Drugs and Drug Addiction, when it comes to the relationship between policy, stigma and behavior.

  • Michele Marill, freelancer writing for Health Affairs (@MicheleCMarill)

    Marill will look at what a small integrated care program in southwest Germany – Gesundes Kinzigtal – can teach the United States about successfully addressing population health and care coordination for Accountable Care Organizations.

  • Robert Weisman, age beat reporter, The Boston Globe (@GlobeRobW)

    Weisman will compare how late-in-life care plays out for middle-class seniors in the United States and the Netherlands, the first nation to introduce long-term care insurance and a leader in the "aging in place" movement.

The fellows will continue in their current jobs during the fellowship period, but also receive customized seminars, mentoring and financial support for field reporting. With the support of the program, and their own news outlets, they are expected to complete significant and unique reporting projects by mid-2020.

The Association of Health Care Journalists is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing public understanding of health care issues. With about 1,500 members across the United States and around the globe, its mission is to improve the quality, accuracy and visibility of health care reporting, writing and editing. The association and its Center for Excellence in Health Care Journalism provide training, resources and a professional home for journalists. Offices are based at the Missouri School of Journalism.

The Commonwealth Fund is a private foundation that aims to promote a high-performing health care system that achieves better access, improved quality and greater efficiency, particularly for society's most vulnerable. The Fund carries out this mandate by supporting independent research on health care issues and making grants to improve health care practice and policy. The Fund is based in New York City and has supported this fellowship program since it began.