Tag Archives: core topic leader

New health equity core topic leader Newsome is veteran freelance reporter

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Melba Newsome

Melba Newsome

Melba Newsome is the new AHCJ core topic leader for health equity. A veteran freelance journalist from Charlotte, N.C., she has more than 20 years’ experience reporting on news and general interest topics.

Over the past year, she has reported extensively on COVID-19 in the Black community, funded by a grant from the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting. In the past decade, her work has focused primarily on education and health, with a concentration on disparities and rural health.

Her health and science features have appeared in Health Affairs, Oprah, Prevention, Scientific American, Chemical & Engineering News and North Carolina Health News. Continue reading →

Reed is director of education and content and a longtime member of AHCJ. She was a professor of practice in the Missouri School of Journalism for 17 years and an editor at the Columbia Missourian. She designed and taught a course on covering trauma and a course for STEM field and journalism students on improving science communication.

New AHCJ core topic leader will provide help covering health IT

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Karen Blum

Karen Blum

Karen Blum is the new AHCJ core topic leader for health information technology. A health care and science journalist in the Baltimore area, she will write blog posts, tip sheets, articles and gather resources to help colleagues cover the changing world of health IT. 

While she will officially begin that post on May 17, she’s already written an upcoming post about next week’s health IT conference. 

Blum 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. Continue reading →

Jeff Porter is the director of education for AHCJ and plays a lead role in planning conferences, workshops and other training events. He also leads the organization's data collection and data instruction efforts.

Tara Haelle takes over AHCJ’s medical studies core topic area

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Tara Haelle

Tara Haelle, an independent journalist based in Peoria, Ill., and regular contributor to Forbes and HealthDay, is AHCJ’s newest core topic leader.

She will help guide journalists through the jargon-filled shorthand of science and research and enable them to translate the evidence into accurate information that their readers can grasp.

Haelle is a freelance journalist and multimedia photographer who has particularly focused on medical studies over the past five years.

She particularly specializes in reporting on vaccines, pediatrics, maternal health, obesity, nutrition and mental health. Continue reading →

Pia Christensen (@AHCJ_Pia) is the managing editor/online services for AHCJ. She manages the content and development of healthjournalism.org, coordinates AHCJ's social media efforts and edits and manages production of association guides, programs and newsletters.