AHCJ offers this in-person training for journalists in Atlanta on the CDC campus once each year.
AHCJ-CDC Fellows will:
- learn about the latest CDC research and data on topics including maternal mortality, infectious diseases, chronic diseases, environmental health and other emerging public health issues.
- meet new sources they can reach during health emergencies – building a level of trust that allows them to provide better information to their audiences and communities.
- learn how to tap the agency’s abundant resources to produce better stories.
- interact with colleagues from across the country.
Candidates must be working journalists who qualify for AHCJ professional membership (check to see if you qualify). The fellowship program includes one year of a new or renewed AHCJ membership.
Comments from some previous fellows:
- “Fantastic! An incredible opportunity to meet top CDC officials, make relationships and really deeply enhance my learning of complicated subject matter – from contagious diseases to environmental health issues – that is difficult to get on deadline. This was an amazing experience, and helped me generate many story ideas. I even wrote a cholera daily story from information provided at this week’s sessions!” — Rong-Gong Lin II, Los Angeles Times
- “I will speak of this program only in accolades. I found this to be an eye-opening, informative, educational and absolutely breathtaking experience. I am indebted to AHCJ for giving me this opportunity and feel privileged and honored to have been a part of this.” — Cindy Uken, Billings Gazette
- “I got information that I can use right away. You kept us busy enough without overloading us. Just knowing the structure and breadth of what CDC does is great.” — Lisa Baertlein, Reuters
- “The program offers health journalists a unique opportunity to learn about the nerve center of public health and public health safety. I will take valuable ‘insider’ knowledge back to my office. And it has been wonderful connecting with other journalists who share my passion and challenges to tell important stories, despite stretched resources.” — Karen Herzog, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
- “As a magazine freelancer, I was brimming with story ideas after leaving the fellowship, and I soon put that information to use in articles for Good Housekeeping, Reader’s Digest, More, Parenting and other publications.” — Meryl Davids Landau, freelance writer based in Florida
- “The CDC fellowship was incredibly valuable to me. Not only did I learn about fascinating new topics that spurred several articles, but I made worthwhile connections with both sources and other journalists. I’m currently planning a panel for the AHCJ conference with one of my fellows!”
— Emma Yasinski, independent journalist - “I very much appreciated being selected for (the 2022) fellowship and enjoyed meeting the other participants — an interesting, diverse and intelligent group who asked great questions of the speakers. It was an added bonus to get to see the CDC live instead of all lectures being online. I enjoyed hearing more about the variety of work being pursued at the CDC and got a few ideas for potential stories to pursue…”
— Karen Blum, independent journalist - “The AHCJ/CDC Fellowship opened my eyes to the breadth of issues that the CDC tackles (from community violence to antibiotic resistance to infectious disease outbreaks) by hearing directly from investigators on the front lines. Whether getting granular about issues with health data collection, discussing potential lifestyle health interventions with impact, or describing global efforts at disease eradication, the CDC presenters helped explain the issues they were tackling with detail and nuance. I learned a lot — not just from the CDC folks but from the other Fellows, who represented a really diverse range of media outlets and who peppered the presenters with excellent questions that helped illuminate the issues at hand.”
— Pam Kaufman, executive editor, Everyday Health Applications are currently closed. Check back for information and announcements about applying.
Questions? Contact Susan Cunningham at susan@healthjournalism.org