Judy Stecker
The new assistant secretary for public affairs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services wants to improve the agency’s outreach to regional reporters and plans to hire a liaison devoted to working with journalists outside the Beltway.
Judy Stecker, appointed to the role in April, mentioned the new emphasis on reaching regional reporters in a phone call last week with the chairs of AHCJ’s Right to Know Committee. Continue reading
Photo: Kimberly LeonardErin Mershon, left, of Stat, took the opportunity to talk to Mark Weber, the HHS deputy assistant secretary for public affairs.
About 60 reporters attended the AHCJ Washington, D.C., chapter holiday party last month, including independent journalists, reporters from Kaiser Health News, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Politico and USA Today.
During the seventh annual holiday event for the chapter, reporters enjoyed beverages and light appetizers at Bistro Bistro in Dupont Circle. Continue reading
Photo: Jeff Porter/AHCJBrenda Fitzgerald, M.D., director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, spoke at a briefing on public health emergencies at the CDC on Dec. 4.
Fellows in two of AHCJ’s health journalism fellowship programs attended today’s press briefing about ongoing public health emergencies with Health and Human Services Acting Secretary Eric Hargan, CDC Director Brenda Fitzgerald, M.D., and CMS Administrator Seema Verma.
The journalists are attending a week-long training session at the CDC as part of the AHCJ-CDC Health Journalism Fellowships and the Mid-Atlantic class of the AHCJ Regional Health Journalism Fellowship. Continue reading
A few months ago, two of our Politico health reporters Dan Diamond and Rachana Pradhan, told me they had heard that Tom Price, then the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, had been traveling on chartered aircraft.
But they had to prove it. And they had to prove it meticulously, in a way that HHS could not dispute. Continue reading
Media officers for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services have promised to make top HHS officials available to answer reporters’ questions, after AHCJ President Ivan Oransky, M.D., called for a press conference with the HHS secretary and the administrator of the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
“We’re looking at ways to make our officials more available in multiple settings,” said Mark Weber, deputy assistant secretary for public affairs for human services. “It might not be a press conference but a series of venues.”