About AHCJ: General News

AHCJ announces 2022 Health Performance Reporting Fellows Date: 12/01/21

COLUMBIA, Mo. —The Association of Health Care Journalists has awarded AHCJ Reporting Fellowships on Health Care Performance to five journalists, whose proposals stood out among the pool of other talented applicants. The program, supported by The Commonwealth Fund for the 12th year in a row, is designed to help journalists understand and report on the performance of local health care markets and the U.S. health system in its entirety.

The fellowship covers the cost of attending seminars and AHCJ conferences, and a $4,000 project allowance is available to defray the cost of field reporting, health data analysis and other project-related research. Each fellow will receive a $2,500 fellowship award upon the successful completion of projects. Recipients will continue their jobs during the coming year while also receiving customized training, mentoring and financial support for field reporting and conference and workshop attendance.

With the support of the program, and their own news outlets, fellows are expected to complete their reporting projects, with a continued focus on health equity, by the end of 2022.

The 2022 fellows will be:

• Theodore Alcorn (@TedAlcorn), an independent journalist whose reporting on health and justice has appeared in numerous publications.
• Sarah Boden (@Sarah_Boden), health and science reporter for 90.5 WESA News, Pittsburgh’s NPR station.
• Arielle Dreher (@arielle_amara), health care reporter for the Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Washington.
• Emily Green (@GreenWrites), managing editor, The Lund Report.
• Cecilia Hernandez-Cromwell (@CecyCromwellTV), news director and anchor at Telemundo Noticiero Oklahoma.

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.