Category Archives: AHCJ news

Panelists endorse collaborative ‘prebunking’ to stop toxic misinformation 

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Washington Post reporter and panel moderator Lauren Weber, talks to JAMA Editor in Chief Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo and co-moderator, Kaiser Family Foundation Senior Fellow Irving Washington, during the “Malignant misinformation: The quest for a ‘cure'” roundtable discussion and awards luncheon at HJ23 in St. Louis. The second panelist, Garth Graham, M.D., global head of health care and public health at Google/YouTube, is not pictured, but participated via Zoom. (Photo by Zachary Linhares)

Scientific knowledge is no match for entrenched misinformation, JAMA Editor in Chief Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, M.D., told a luncheon crowd at Health Journalism 2023 on Saturday, March 11 in St. Louis. Just look at ivermectin.

JAMA recently published the fourth big, randomized trial to find that the antiparasitic medication doesn’t improve COVID symptoms. Yet Bibbins-Domingo said she is aware that no amount of high-quality evidence will quash persistent claims that ivermectin is a COVID miracle cure. At the same time, she said, ethical questions arise when researchers continue to study what many consider to be settled science.

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Mary Chris Jaklevic is AHCJ's topic leader for patient safety. She has been a contributor to HealthNewsReview.org, a project that aimed to improve health care journalism by critiquing the accuracy and balance of media messages about medical interventions, and was an AHCJ board member from 2005 to 2009.

Former U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams talks career highlights, COVID lessons at HJ23

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Former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams responds to question by AHCJ Executive Director Kelsey Ryan. (Photo by Zachary Linhares)

Former U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams’ youth and career path, lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, and advice for journalists were all on the table during his fireside chat on Friday, March 10, at Health Journalism 2023 in St. Louis.

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Karen Blum is AHCJ’s core topic leader on health IT. An independent journalist in the Baltimore area, she has written health IT stories for publications such as Pharmacy Practice News, Clinical Oncology News, Gastroenterology & Endoscopy News, General Surgery News and Infectious Disease Special Edition.

Author Tracy Kidder and Dr. Jim O’Connell open HJ23 in St. Louis with inspiring keynote

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Dr. Jim O’Connell responds, and Author Tracy Kidder listens attentively to a question by AHCJ board member Marlene Harris-Taylor. (Photo by Zachary Linhares)

For Tracy Kidder, stories create a road to empathy. Kidder, a Pulitzer Prize-winning nonfiction author and the keynote speaker on Thursday evening, March 9, at Health Journalism 2023 in St. Louis, explained why he decided to write his most recent book, “Rough Sleepers, Dr. Jim O’Connell’s urgent mission to bring healing to homeless people” (Penguin Random House, 2023).

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Joseph Burns (@jburns18), an independent journalist who resides in Brewster, Massachusetts, is AHCJ’s topic leader on health reform. He welcomes questions and suggestions and tip sheets at joseph@healthjournalism.org.

HJ23 conference fellows announced

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Photo by Andrea WanerAttendees enjoying lunch during HJ22 in Austin, Texas.

With the support of AHCJ’s generous funders, financial assistance will be provided to more than 60 journalists to attend Health Journalism 2023 in St. Louis from March 9-12, 2023. 

Typically, conference fellowships are place-based and open to full-time print, broadcast and online journalists, as well as part-timers or freelancers who derive the majority of their income from journalism. 

Congratulations to the HJ23 fellows!

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