Eight journalists have been selected to attend the 2023 AHCJ-CDC Health Journalism Fellowship in Atlanta.
Thanks to support from the NIHCM Foundation, this year’s fellows will spend three days — May 21-24 — learning from CDC experts and touring labs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s campuses.
The 2011 AHCJ-CDC Health Journalism Fellows met with Ali S. Khan, M.D., M.P.H., assistant surgeon general and director of the CDC’s Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response.
AHCJ is taking applications for two of its premier fellowship programs: the AHCJ-CDC Health Journalism Fellowships and the AHCJ Reporting Fellowships on Health Care Performance.
Both programs offer journalists a chance to receive top training and a chance to find new sources and story ideas for their reporting. Continue reading
This is a guest post from Winnie Yu, a freelance journalist based in Voorheesville, N.Y. She was among this year’s class of AHCJ-CDC Health Journalism Fellows who spent last week studying public health issues at two Atlanta campuses of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The fellows met with Ali S. Khan, M.D., M.P.H., assistant surgeon general and director of the CDC's Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response. (Photo: Len Bruzzese/AHCJ)
Life can get lonely when you work as a freelance writer. So it was a real thrill for me last week when I got the chance to attend the AHCJ-CDC Health Journalism Fellowship and listen to experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention discuss the most pressing health issues of our day.
Ten journalists from around the country came to Atlanta to hear presentations on topics as varied as motor vehicle safety, vaccines, patient safety and prescription drug abuse. It was quickly apparent that the CDC is much more than the authority on when to get your vaccines.
We heard from numerous experts, including Mike Bell, M.D., associate director for Infection Control for the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion; William Dietz, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity for the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention & Health Promotion; and Ann Albright, Ph.D., R.D., director of the Division of Diabetes Translation for the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. We also enjoyed a brief presentation from the CDC’s director Thomas R. Frieden, M.D., M.P.H.
Each day ended with a tour. We saw the CDC’s emergency operations center, walked through the tobacco lab and peered in at scientists probing for foodborne illnesses. We looked at viruses under a microscope, marveled at slides the size of a pinhead (used under an electron microscope) and winced at the amount of nicotine that smokers continue to inhale from cigarettes.
And while I couldn’t get the tour guide to tell us where the United States hides its stockpile of smallpox – Russia has the only other one – I was amazed by the challenges that researchers must endure in order to work in the pathogen labs, including chemical showers and protective suits that preclude regular visits to the bathroom. Not surprisingly, we learned that a calm and even temperament is a requirement for the job.
No doubt, some of the information we already knew: Americans weigh more than ever. Autism is on the rise. Diabetes is a major health issue. But we also learned that polio remains a persistent problem in some parts of the world, tuberculosis still afflicts some segments of our population and the United States takes its role as a world leader seriously when it comes to public health.
It was truly an honor to be part of this fellowship, to get an up-close glimpse of the CDC and to share my time with a great group of journalists who were smart, funny and great dinner companions. I have no doubt the experience will spawn story ideas, beef up our source lists and provide ample background for future articles. I know it will for me.
This is a guest post from Lara Salahi, of ABC News. She is one of 11 AHCJ-CDC Health Journalism Fellows visiting the CDC this week.
I’ve been assigned the disease topic, perhaps even given the gist of the headline. And now I’ve got a few good hours to meet my deadline.
The 2010 AHCJ-CDC fellows take a break from their busy week in Atlanta. They are: (front row) Raymond Hainer, Health.com / Time Inc.; Meredith Matthews, Current Health Teens magazine/Weekly Reader; Ruby de Luna, KUOW-Seattle Public Radio; Kevin McCarthy, Consumer Reports/Consumers Union; (second row) Margaret Haskell, Bangor Daily News; Felice Freyer, The Providence Journal; Katherine Harmon, Scientific American; (back) Lara Salahi, ABC News; Rong Lin II, Los Angeles Times; Miranda Van Gelder, Martha Stewart Living; and Jori Lewis, freelance journalist & radio producer.
The patient story: compelling.
The expert opinion: piece of cake.
But finding accurate and current data that will pull the story into perspective? Suddenly I can hear the minutes taken from writing ticking away, one hour of research at a time.
Chalk this scenario up on the list of “You know you’re a daily reporter/producer when…” you’re the only one who wishes there were more hours in a workday.
Readers and viewers want to know how common a health issue is in their state, or whether a health trend has increased or decreased over time.
The CDC website is so expansive; it’s hard to tell where to start. But the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, or BRFSS, is a quick link to bookmark. BRFSS publishes annual prevalence and trends data on health issues such as diabetes, health care access, and oral health.
Lina Balluz, acting director of the Division of Behavior Surveillance at the CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, walked the AHCJ-CDC Health Journalism Fellows through finding the analyzed self-reported data from telephone-based questionnaires.
BRFSS is one of the fastest data collection methods analyzed on a given health issue, said Balluz. The system includes national data, stratified by states. It’s one tool that may help add perspective to a story and cut the time spent searching.
Editor’s note: For help finding additional information on the CDC website, we recommend AHCJ’s “Navigating the CDC: A Journalist’s Guide to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Web Site.”
Other dispatches from the AHCJ-CDC Health Journalism Fellows:
Editor’s note: This post, from the AHCJ-CDC Health Journalism Fellows‘ visit to the CDC, originally reported the CDC is close to launching a diabetes project. In fact, the National Diabetes Prevention Program launched in April 2010 and the CDC continues to expand the program, which currently has 28 sites.
The Diabetes Prevention Program clinical trial, according to the CDC, is “designed to bring evidence-based programs for preventing type 2 diabetes to communities. The program supports establishing a network of lifestyle intervention programs for overweight or obese people at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes,” including dietary changes, coping skills and group support. More information about lifestyle interventions is available from the YMCA and UnitedHealth Group.
Meredith Matthews, of Current Health Teens magazine/Weekly Reader, wrote a blog post wrote about the visit, reporting that the fellows visited the CDC’s emergency operations center, which is monitoring the cholera outbreak in Haiti. They also heard from CDC director Thomas Frieden, M.D., who Matthews says answered all of the fellows questions.
Other dispatches from the AHCJ-CDC Health Journalism Fellows:
