This webinar was recorded on Jan. 10, 2024.
Up to one in seven people in the U.S. have had long COVID, according to one of the most recent estimates. But it’s still getting relatively little coverage, not nearly capturing the scale of this debilitating condition for which no approved treatments exist.
In this webinar, we heard from a rehabilitation physician who specializes in treating people with long COVID and a journalist who has been living with the condition. Watch the recording to learn what you need to know about long COVID, best practices in covering it and the importance of speaking with people who are dealing with it.
Tara Haelle is AHCJ’s health beat leader for infectious diseases and medical studies. She’s an independent science/health journalist, author, speaker, and photographer. Her work has appeared in the National Geographic, Scientific American, Texas Monthly, Science News, Medscape/WebMD, The New York Times, Wired, and O Magazine, among others. She specializes in public health and medical research, particularly vaccines, infectious disease, maternal and pediatric health, mental health, healthcare disparities, and misinformation. She also covers medical research conferences and edits Long COVID Connection on Medium. Haelle earned a master’s in photojournalism from the University of Texas at Austin, and her images have appeared in Texas Monthly, NPR, the, Chicago Sun-Times and elsewhere.
Monica Verduzco–Gutierrez, M.D., is chair of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the Long School of Medicine at the University of Texas Health San Antonio. She previously was a Medical Director of the Brain Injury and Stroke Program at a top three US News and World Report Best Hospital for Rehabilitation. Her area of clinical expertise is the care of patients with traumatic brain injury, stroke rehabilitation, and interventional spasticity management. Most recently, she has developed a Post-COVID Recovery Clinic to help those who were diagnosed with COVID-19 and suffer from various physical, cognitive, and functional difficulties.
Lygia Navarro is a freelance magazine, audio and multi-media journalist and editor who is also living with long COVID. She has particular expertise covering Latin American and Latine/o/a/x stories across the United States, and has also covered mental health, the environment, immigration, human smuggling, trauma, the intersection of politics and the arts, 2SLGBTQ+ communities, food, and music. Navarro is currently an editor at palabra, the National Association for Hispanic Journalists’ outlet, and a health reporting fellow at Journalism and Women Symposium.
