Association of Health Care Journalists

Tick boom: A physician's forecast for summer '22
2022-06-08 01:00 (America/New_York)
Wednesday, June 8, noon ET
Ticks have proliferated – caused by the combination of overbuilding in previously forested areas, climate change and international trade.
We all know about the tick-borne disease – Lyme – which can cause debilitating nerve and other damage, but what are the new and emerging tick-borne diseases and where are they emerging? What does that mean for communities? What should reporters be writing about right now and what are the under covered stories related to tick-borne diseases? When will there be a vaccine for Lyme? What about the latest treatments and how can communities and individuals prevent getting bitten?
A long-time tick expert, physician and former co-chair of a national working group on tick borne diseases that advises the federal government will provide some answers. Please send your questions to bara@healthjournalism.org.
View the slides
John Aucott
Bara Vaida

Dr. John Aucott is an internist and Lyme disease expert in the Division of Rheumatology, and is the director of the Johns Hopkins Lyme Disease Clinical Research Center. With more than 15 years of research experience on the crippling effects of Lyme disease, he has published studies focusing on characteristics of early Lyme disease. His research is also focused on improved diagnostic testing and health related outcomes in Lyme disease. He is widely recognized an international expert in post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome. He is also former chair of the U.S. Health and Human Service’s department’s Tick-Borne Working Group that developed a set of recommended policies on preventing and responding to tick-borne diseases.

Reporting the facts on abortion
2022-06-22 01:00
June 22, noon ET
Women in many U.S. states are facing increased legal obstacles to abortion, a trend that has been accelerating in recent years with laws now requiring waiting periods and “counseling,” among other stipulations. A pending Supreme Court decision is expected to further limit access by banning the procedure outright in many states.
To help better inform your reporting, using science and evidence-based information, AHCJ will hold a webinar with Nisha Verma, M.D., a fellow with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). Patient safety core topic leader Kerry Dooley Young will host the webinar. This session will help journalists know what to ask when presented with research on abortion, particularly medical abortions. The webinar will also explore how political agendas have skewed research. Verma will also address the potential of telehealth in states where abortion is not restricted.
View the webcast
Nisha Verma
Kerry Dooley Young
Nisha Verma, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.O.G., was born in Greensboro, N.C., and received her bachelor’s in Biology and Anthropology and her medical degree from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She graduated from Obstetrics and Gynecology residency at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and completed her Complex Family Planning fellowship and Master’s in Public Health degree at Emory University.
She is currently serving as the Darney-Landy Fellow at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists with their Strategies for Healthy Equity team and provides abortion care at Planned Parenthoods in the Delaware area. She is also Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics at Emory University.
She is particularly passionate about improving access to reproductive health care in the southeast United States, her home region, and has expertise in effective messaging techniques on complicated topics such as abortion.

A Cochrane conversation on using systematic reviews
2022-06-29 01:00
June 29, 2 p.m. ET
In the era of big data, some think that all you need for a systematic review is enough data. Not true, say Cochrane experts, who apply a rigorous methodology to their systematic reviews to minimize bias and produce more reliable, higher quality research findings. Journalists who attend this webinar will learn:

The difference between a study, a review, meta-analyses, and systematic reviews

What’s so great about systematic reviews

How to read a systematic review and evaluate its quality

What to care about in the summary of findings table

How to report on a systematic review to help your readers make informed health decisions

Cochrane’s protocol for assessing health evidence and how it compares to others’.

View the webcast—Slides (892 KB .pdf)
Lisa Bero
Tara Haelle
Professor Lisa Bero is a researcher in evidence-based health care and is internationally known for her studies on the integrity of clinical and basic research evidence that is used to influence health policy. She is affiliate professor, University of Sydney, where she founded the multidisciplinary Evidence, Policy and Influence Collaborative at the Charles Perkins Centre, focusing on bias and its influence on the integrity of research. She is a professor of medicine and public health and chief scientist, Center for Bioethics and Humanities, University of Colorado. She has contributed to Cochrane as an author, editor, center director, and member and co-chair of Cochrane’s Governing Board, and is currently senior editor, research integrity. She is also a longtime contributor to the work of the World Health Organization, including serving as a member of the Guideline Review Committee, and as chair of the Essential Medicines Committee.

Understanding the pharmacy benefit manager 'shell game'
2022-09-14 01:00
Sept. 14, 1 p.m. ET
In this webcast, Ohio-based, award-winning journalist Darrel Rowland will explain the strategies pharmacy benefit managers use to boost profits by increasing what patients pay out of pocket for their medications and limiting the drugs that insurers will cover. He’ll also talk about how pharmacy benefit managers have driven smaller and locally owned pharmacies out of business.
These strategies and others led the Federal Trade Commission to begin an investigation this spring into the practices of the six largest PBMs — CVS Caremark, Express Scripts, OptumRx, Humana Inc.; Prime Therapeutics, and MedImpact Healthcare Systems — and Rowland will help prepare journalists to report on the outcome of that investigation.

View the webcast

Links
A press release about a report from the U.S. Senate Finance Committee on insulin and the role of PBMs and other actors in the drug-supply chain:

https://www.finance.senate.gov/chairmans-news/grassley-wyden-release-insulin-investigation-uncovering-business-practices-between-drug-companies-and-pbms-that-keep-prices-high

The press release includes a link to all of the material the committee reviewed, including the full text of the committee’s investigative report and the committee’s records: HERE.
And here’s a link to the report itself:

https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Grassley-Wyden Insulin Report (FINAL 1).pdf

Here are links from the Federal Trade Commission on its PBM investigation into PBMs:

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/events/2022/06/future-pharmaceuticals-examining-analysis-pharmaceutical-mergers

FTC-DOJ Listening Forum – Health Care- April 14, 2022

The Future of Pharmaceuticals – June 14, 2022

The Future of Pharmaceuticals – June 15, 2022

Merger Guidelines Listening Forum- June 21, 2022

Other sources mentioned included:

Antonio Ciaccia at 3 Axis Advisors, a consulting firm, and at 46Brooklyn Research, drug-price researchers and on Twitter at @A_Ciaccia

Adam J. Fein, PhD, CEO of Drug Channels Institute.

And here’s a link to a report in 2019 from the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission on what’s called the ‘black box’ in the relationship between health insurers and PBMs:

Cracking Open the Black Box of Pharmacy Benefit Managers

Darrel Rowland
Joseph Burns
Darrel Rowland is an independent journalist who has won multiple awards for his work over more than three decades at The Columbus Dispatch in Ohio as a reporter and editor. His work has focused on what he calls accountability stories about pharmacy benefit managers and on a wide variety of other topics. Stories he supervised led to the resignation of an Ohio attorney general, and he has reported on a scandal in which state officials admitted to improperly withholding $40 million in child-support payments to single parents.

Lunch and Learn: Finding ... and keeping ... accountability partners
2022-09-15 01:00
When/Where: 1:00 p.m. ET, Sept. 15 (virtual)
View the webcastMeeting ID: 943 4281 6993

Ask the expert: A White House Q&A on monkeypox
2022-09-22 01:00
Sept. 22, noon ET
Monkeypox is the latest infectious disease outbreak for health journalists to cover and explain to the public.
In early August, President Biden declared monkeypox a public health emergency and named Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, CDC director of HIV/AIDS prevention, as deputy coordinator of the administration’s effort to respond to the outbreak. Daskalakis will take questions for 30 minutes during this webcast, so bring your questions about transmission, risk, health equity and how not to perpetuate stigma in your coverage.
View the webcast
Demetre Daskalakis
Bara Vaida
Demetre Daskalakis is the deputy coordinator of the White House monkeypox response. He previously was director of the division of HIV/AIDS prevention at the CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention. Daskalakis was integral in designing and leading many HIV and STD programs in New York City, including their Ending the Epidemic program, which is credited with decreasing HIV incidence to an historic low.

Nurse staffing and patient safety: What the research shows
2022-09-28 01:00
Sept. 28, 1 p.m. ET
Journalist Sarah DiGregorio, author of the forthcoming book, “Taking Care: The Revolutionary Story of Nursing,” and Kerry Dooley Young, AHCJ’s core topic leader on patient safety, will review the findings of major studies on how nurse staffing levels affect quality of care. This webinar will introduce journalists to major papers and reports on this issue and provide an update on efforts at the state and federal level to mandate nurse-patient ratios.
View the webcast
“She Had a Preemie — and Then She Started to Ask Important Questions” was the headline of the 2020 New York Times review of DiGregorio’s first book, “Early: An Intimate History of Premature Birth and What It Teaches Us.” DiGregorio, who has a master’s in journalism from New York University, has been published in the New York Times, Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and the Village Voice and in magazines including Saveur and Parade, specializing earlier in food writing. Her second book, a cultural history of nursing called “Taking Care: The Revolutionary Story of Nursing,” is forthcoming in May.

Navigating freelance contracts
2022-10-06 01:00
Noon CT/1 p.m. ET Thursday, Oct. 6
Freelance contracts can be short, simple easy-to-understand agreements, multi-page documents full of legalese or anything in between. They can contain clauses that will cost you money, take away your future rights to the story, delay payment and saddle you with legal responsibilities best avoided.
In this webinar, former journalist and media lawyer Charles Glasser will answer your questions about why contracts are important, language to include and avoid, and how to negotiate the contract you want. Feel free to bring a contract and ask a specific question that can serve as an example for all attendees.
View the webcast
Charles Glasser
Barbara Mantel
Charles Glasser spent 12 years as the global media counsel for Bloomberg News, where he trained more than 2,200 reporters on legal issues and journalism fundamentals. He is now a private legal consultant and teaches law and ethics for investigative journalism at New York University’s Arthur Carter Journalism Center.

Pushing back against ageism, one story at a time
2022-10-13 01:00
11 a.m. CT/noon ET Thursday, Oct. 13
Ageism is pervasive in our society. And journalists can be as guilty as anyone else of perpetuating ageist tropes. But despite the barrage of negative messages that come at us at home, at work, and even at the supermarket, aging isn’t something sad or depressing that old people do. It’s how we move through life from birth to death; everyone is doing it; and more of us are doing more of it than ever before.
Join author and activist Ashton Applewhite as we discuss ageism and how journalists can avoid ageist stereotypes in their reporting and depict aging in accurate and nuanced ways.
View the webcast

OldSchool.info — one-stop go-to for all things ageism-related, including resources, tools and language guides

Yo, is this Ageist — Ashton’s blog

This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism, by Ashton Applewhite

Breaking the Age Code How Your Beliefs About Aging Determine How Long and Well You Live, by Becca Levy, Ph.D.

Ashton Applewhite
Liz Seegert
An internationally recognized expert on ageism, Ashton Applewhite is the author of “This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism” and a co-founder of the Old School Anti-Ageism Clearinghouse. She speaks widely at venues that have included the United Nations and the TED mainstage, has written for Harper’s, the Guardian, and the New York Times, and is at the forefront of the emerging movement to raise awareness of ageism and to dismantle it.

Ask the expert: A Q&A on femtech
2022-10-24 01:00
2 p.m. CT/ 3 p.m. ET, Monday, Oct. 24
In the continuing fallout of the Dobbs decision, questions have been raised about how far law enforcement might reach into private health information via femtech, health care software and tech-enabled products designed to support women’s health. Can “anonymous” modes recently introduced by some companies truly keep users’ information private? And how could the upcoming November elections — 36 states are holding governor contests — impact the industry with abortion a top-of-mind issue for many people?
Bethany Corbin, the femtech practice lead and senior counsel for Nixon Gwilt Law, will take questions for 30 minutes during the webcast, so bring your queries. Corbin is a frequent speaker and writer on femtech, privacy, contract drafting and ethical technology. She also hosts the Legally Femtech podcast.
View the webcast
Bethany Corbin
Karen Blum
Bethany Corbin, femtech practice lead and senior counsel at Nixon Gwilt Law, is a recognized industry expert at the intersection of law and women’s health technology. She empowers pioneering femtech and health care innovation companies to revolutionize care delivery with legal counsel and strategic guidance. In particular, Bethany partners with emerging femtech companies at the forefront of health care transformation to ensure they are building robust, scalable and legally compliant health solutions that are ready to lead the industry.

After “Hidden Valley Road:” A conversation with author Robert Kolker
2022-11-02 01:00
1 p.m. CT Wednesday, Nov. 2
When journalist Robert Kolker first learned about the Galvin family through a colleague’s introduction to one of the family members, he didn’t know whether their story had all the elements needed to become a book until he began the reporting. The narrative that unfolded—a family in which six of the 10 sons developed schizophrenia—provided a compelling framework for exploring the history of schizophrenia research from its discovery through the present day.
The result, the highly acclaimed “Hidden Valley Road,” has continued to have an impact even two years after its 2020 publication, particularly in addressing the stigma associated with schizophrenia. Kolker will discuss how the book came about, his realization that it could be a book, how he found and wove medical research into his narrative, and what the book’s current impact has been for both the Galvin family and the understanding of schizophrenia more broadly.
View the webcast
Robert Kolker
Tara Haelle
Robert Kolker is the author of “Hidden Valley Road,” an instant #1 New York Times bestseller and selection of Oprah’s Book Club; and “Lost Girls,” also a New York Times bestseller and New York Times Notable Book. He is a National Magazine Award finalist whose journalism has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Wired, O, the Oprah Magazine, the Marshall Project, Bloomberg Businessweek, and New York magazine.

“Breathless:” A Q&A with science writer David Quammen
2022-12-14 01:00
Noon ET Wednesday, Dec. 14
Join us for a discussion with veteran science journalist David Quammen whose most recent book, “Breathless: The Scientific Race to Defeat a Deadly Virus,” details the story of how virologists and other scientists have worked to unravel the mysteries of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Quammen will also talk about what he learned about the various origin theories and what lessons can be applied to the next, likely pandemic.
The New York Times describes the book as a “luminous, passionate account of the defining crisis of our time — and the unprecedented international response to it.” Bring your questions about craft, grasping difficult science and spotting the next pandemic for this 45-minute Q&A.
View the webcast
David Quammen
Bara Vaida
David Quammen is an author and journalist whose seventeen books include “The Song of the Dodo” (1996), “The Reluctant Mr. Darwin” (2006), and “The Tangled Tree” (2018). His 2012 book, “Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic,” described the dynamics of viral spillover from wildlife into humans and predicted a coming pandemic, possibly caused by a coronavirus.
His new book, “Breathless: The Scientific Race to Defeat a Deadly Virus,” describes the scientific effort to trace the origins and evolution of the Covid-19 virus, SARS-CoV-2, and to combat the pandemic it caused.
Quammen’s magazine work has appeared in National Geographic, The New Yorker, Outside, Harper’s, The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, and The New York Review of Books, among other magazines, and his Op-Eds in the New York Times and other newspapers. He’s a three-time recipient of the National Magazine Award and has received several awards for his books, including the Premio Letterario Merck, given in Rome. He shares a home in Bozeman, Montana, with his wife, Betsy Gaines Quammen, author of the book “American Zion,” plus three borzois, a cross-eyed cat, and a rescue python named Boots.

Long COVID: Ask NIH leader about latest research
2023-02-10 01:00
2 p.m. ET Friday, Feb. 10
Check out this discussion with NIH leader Dr. Gary Gibbons about long COVID, which is still poorly understood by scientists and physicians. Find out why some people have lingering, severe fatigue, brain fog, or trouble breathing, who is at risk for these symptoms and why a treatment is a mystery the National Institutes of Health’s RECOVER initiative and many other researchers are working to solve.
To help journalists write about this topic, Dr. Gibbons answered questions about what we know so far about long COVID and address questions that remain unanswered. He particularly focused on health inequities and long COVID’s impact on non-White and ethnic groups. Check out the webinar slides and watch the full webcast below.
Meeting ID: 966 7847 9850Passcode:[REDACTED]
Watch the webcast
Dr. Gary Gibbons
Bara Vaida
Dr. Gary Gibbons has been the director of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute since 2012. Before joining the NHLBI, Dr. Gibbons — a cardiologist by training — was the founding director of the Cardiovascular Research Institute, Department of Physiology chair and professor of physiology and medicine at the Morehouse School of Medicine.There he directed NIH-funded research in the fields of vascular biology, genomic medicine and the pathogenesis of vascular diseases. Gibbons received several patents for innovations derived from his research in the fields of vascular biology and the pathogenesis of vascular diseases. Prior to joining the Morehouse School of Medicine in 1999, Gibbons taught at Stanford University and Harvard Medical School.

“Under the skin”: A conversation about health and racism with Linda Villarosa
2023-03-29 01:00
1 p.m. ET Wednesday, March 29
Journalist and author Linda Villarosa will talk with AHCJ core topic leader for health equity Margarita Birnbaum about how a story she wrote for the New York Times evolved into a book — “Under the Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on American Lives and the Health of Our Nation.” Villarosa, a former health editor at The New York Times, wrote a gripping and revealing story that exposed how race and ethnic prejudice in the medical system and society at large have contributed to the deaths of generations of Black women and children.
Join us for a conversation with Villarosa to learn more about the people she interviewed, how to find people who will share their experiences, and how to bring context about the legacy of bigotry to the stories we write about local and national public health trends. Read more about the award-winning journalist on her website.
Meeting ID: 996 8142 9748 Passcode:[REDACTED]
View the recording
Linda Villarosa
Margarita Binbaum

Webinar: Advances in Brain Health
2023-04-26 01:00
Explore the latest advances in brain aging research in a free webinar hosted by the American Federation for Aging Research and Prevention magazine. Panelists include Emilie T. Reas, Ph.D., assistant professor in neurosciences at the University of California San Diego and Tara Tracy, Ph.D., assistant professor at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging and adjunct assistant professor at the University of Southern California Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. When/Where: 3-4 p.m. EST, April 26, (virtual)
Contact: John Chaich, john@afar.org
To register, visit this webpage.

Harnessing the power of the Congressional District Health Dashboard
2023-04-28 01:00
1 p.m. ET Friday, April 28
Join Margarita Birnbaum, AHCJ’s core topic leader for health equity, and Samantha Breslin, program director at NYU, for a tour of the new Congressional District Health Dashboard. This free website gives journalists, policymakers and advocates a one-stop resource of unbiased, nonpartisan data at the congressional-district level to inform the development of policies that give everyone the opportunity for good health and well-being. Developed by the Department of Population Health at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Dashboard provides first-of-its-kind data on health and conditions that affect health, including diabetes rates, rent burden, lack of insurance, and broadband access, in every congressional district across the country.
You’ll learn how to use the data to report on health and social policy topics most relevant to your beat; how to view customized health snapshots and interactive maps; how to identify local, state, and regional trends; how to look at how districts compare to others on key measures; and how to go deeper on key findings across congressional districts.
Meeting ID: 914 3755 0710Passcode: [REDACTED]
View the recording
Samantha Breslin
Margarita Birnbaum

Webinar: Covering the lawsuit that could limit free preventive care
2023-05-10 01:00
12 p.m. ET Wednesday, May 10
One of the biggest health care stories of 2023 will break when the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Texas rules in the case of Braidwood Management v. Becerra. In this challenge to provisions in the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Christian-owned businesses and six individuals in Texas assert that the ACA’s requirements to cover preventive services without requiring patients to pay some of the costs of care is unconstitutional. If the court rules in the plaintiffs’ favor, Americans may need to pay more for preventive health care.
To learn more about the implications of the lawsuit, A. Mark Fendrick, M.D., one of the nation’s leading experts on how cost-sharing harms patients, joined AHCJ for a webcast on May 10. Fendrick explained how journalists can cover this story and how, if the plaintiffs succeed on either constitutional or religious grounds, it could limit or restrict the government’s ability to require health insurers and employers to cover evidence-based preventive services without cost-sharing.
Watch the Recording
A. Mark Fendrick, M.D.
Joseph Burns
A. Mark Fendrick, M.D., is the founder and director of the Value-Based Insurance Design Center at the University of Michigan. He is also a professor of internal medicine in the university’s School of Medicine and a professor of Health Management and Policy in the university’s School of Public Health. A practicing physician, Fendrick has seen how requiring consumers to pay for preventive health services causes patients to disregard physicians’ orders because they cannot afford to do so, leading to adverse effects on patients’ health. Since founding the VBID in 2005, Fendrick has advised Congress, employers, health plans and federal agencies on the need to eliminate patient cost-sharing.
Additional resources

No-Cost Preventive Services Are Now in Jeopardy. Here’s What You Need to Know, Julie Appleby, KFF Health News, April 7, 2023.
Judge’s Decision Would Make Some No-Cost Cancer Screenings a Thing of the Past, Julie Appleby and Michelle Andrews, KFF Health News, March 30, 2023
Explaining Litigation Challenging the ACA’s Preventive Services Requirements: Braidwood Management Inc. v. Becerra, KFF, April 4, 2023
Behind the push to strike down free preventative health care in America, WBUR On Point with A. Mark Fendrick MD and Nicholas Bagley, April 26, 2023
A Texas Judge Just Invalidated The Preventive Services Mandate. What Happens Next?, Health Affairs, March 30, 2023
Braidwood Management Inc., et al., plaintiffs, v. Xavier Becerra, et al., defendants, Civil Action No. 4:20-cv-00283-O, March 30, 2023.
USPSTF recommendation on breast-cancer screening, May 9, 2023
USPSTF recommendation on latent TB infection screening, May 2, 2023
What’s Wrong With Health Insurance? Deductibles Are Ridiculous, for Starters, Aaron E. Carrol, MD, NY Times, July 7, 2022.

Webinar: Judges and Psychiatrists Leadership Initiative Annual Leadership Summit 2023
2023-05-18 01:00
The Council of State Governments Justice Center will host the third annual summit of the Judges and Psychiatrists Leadership Initiative on May 18 at 8 p.m. EST. In addition to honoring the Judge Stephen S. Goss Leadership Awardees, the webinar will include a panel discussion spotlighting efforts to decriminalize mental health and substance use disorders.
An estimated 43% of state prisoners and 44% of the mainly pre-trial detainees in local jails had a diagnosed mental illness, according to the Prison Policy Initiative. Those analysts also concluded that 74% of state prisoners and 66% of federal prisoners with mental and behavioral health diagnoses said they received no mental health care while incarcerated.
When/Where: May 18, 8 p.m. EST (virtual)
Contact: press@csgjusticecenter.org or (212) 482-2320
Click here to register.

Webinar: What journalists should know about avian flu and pandemic preparedness
2023-05-18 01:00
2 p.m. ET Thursday, May 18
The global COVID-19 public health emergency was declared over by the World Health Organization, but public health officials need to remain vigilant for the next one. Could it be avian flu or a different pathogen that jumps from animals to people? At the end of May, the federal government is launching the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility to monitor and respond to biological threats involving human, zoonotic and foreign animal diseases.
Ambika Bumb, deputy executive director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, will talk about what reporters need to know about zoonotic threats, the biodefense of animal agriculture, and the reasons to keep writing about pandemic preparedness, particularly given legislation pending in Congress this year. She will also speak to what kind of government plan is required to reduce the risk of another global pandemic in the near future.
View Ambika Bumb’s presentation
Meeting ID: 993 6565 0877Passcode: [REDACTED]
Watch the recording
Ambika Bumb, Ph.D.
Bara Vaida
Ambika Bumb, Ph.D., is deputy executive director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense. Before working with the commission, she served as deputy executive director of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and was the Health, Science, and Technology Advisor for Department of State’s Crisis Management and Strategy within the Office of the Secretary. She was also an advisor for HelpWithCOVID, a grassroots clearing house that matched community volunteers with projects focused on providing COVID relief. She graduated from Georgia Tech with a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering and a minor in economics and received her doctorate in medical engineering from the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-Oxford Program.

Webinar: Why our food supply still isn't safe from contamination
2023-06-14 01:00
Recorded at 12 p.m. ET Wednesday, June 14
Health hazards from tainted meat, produce and other foods are an ongoing national problem, underscored by last year’s unprecedented infant formula recall. Bill Marler, food safety lawyer and publisher of Food Safety News, will look at why it’s so hard to keep the food supply safe, what the federal government should be doing about it and story ideas for national and local reporters — just in time for summer — that will keep the focus on ensuring the safety of the food we eat.
View Bill Marler’s presentation
Watch the recording
Bill Marler
Bara Vaida
Bill Marler is the founder of Marler Clark, a law firm based in Seattle that specializes in representing victims of food-borne illness outbreaks. Marler has represented clients in some of the most high-profile food-borne illness cases in the United States, including the 1993 Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak, the 2006 Dole spinach E. coli outbreak, the 2011 Listeria outbreak linked to cantaloupes from Jensen Farms and the 2018 romaine E. coli outbreak. He founded Food Safety News in 2009 to keep the spotlight on food, health and safety reporting, as traditional news organizations were reducing and eliminating food safety coverage. Bill’s work has been profiled in the book “Poisoned” and in the Netflix documentary of the same name.

Webinar: How journalists can put ChatGPT to good use
2023-07-14 01:00
1 p.m. ET Friday, July 14
The artificial intelligence program ChatGPT has made headlines for its ability to create prose (and headlines), but how does it work? How are journalists using it? And what are the potential problems and ethical pitfalls?
In this webinar, Alex Mahadevan, director of the Poynter Institute’s MediaWise digital media literacy program, will take ChatGPT for a spin, discuss what he’s learned about the new technology and answer your questions.
Watch the recording
Alex Mahadevan
Karen Blum
Alex Mahadevan is the director of MediaWise at the Poynter Institute. Since 2019, he’s taught digital media literacy to thousands of teenagers and older adults, and trained journalists across the world in verification and digital tools for investigations. He also co-leads the Empowering Digital Diverse Digital Citizens Lab at Stanford University. Before getting into fact-checking and media literacy, Alex launched content management systems, newsletters and video series as a news innovation editor and data reporter in Florida.

Webinar: Cancer news: Balancing fear, hype and reality
2023-07-19 01:00
2 p.m. ET Wednesday, July 19
The most recent screening guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force are controversial and confusing. Journalists must report responsibly on the latest health recommendations while talking about cancer — a subject that is often emotionally charged — using the latest scientific evidence.
At this webinar, experts will suggest approaches to putting the latest screening recommendations in context while eliminating hype and not creating false hope.
Watch the recording
Mehra Golshan, M.D.
Elaine Schattner, M.D.
Liz Seegert
Tara Haelle
Mehra Golshan, M.D., is a cancer surgeon and a nationally and internationally recognized leader in breast cancer treatment and research. He serves as deputy chief medical officer for surgical services and as clinical director of the Center for Breast Cancer at Smilow Cancer Hospital and Yale Cancer Center. He has led numerous Phase I, II and III clinical trials and translational science innovations that have had an impact on treatment options and outcomes for women. Dr. Golshan is also a leading researcher in this field, with over 150 peer-reviewed publications.
Elaine Schattner, M.D., is a writer, breast cancer survivor, and physician. A graduate of Yale College and New York University School of Medicine, she is a clinical associate professor at Weill Cornell Medicine in the division of hematology and medical oncology. She worked as an oncologist for 16 years before completing a master’s degree in journalism at Columbia University. Her articles have appeared in the New York Observer, Huffington Post, Pacific Standard, Washington Post, NPR, and elsewhere. Her new book, “From Whispers to Shouts: The Ways We Talk About Cancer” is published by Columbia University Press.

Webinar: Covering high-risk lab accidents and the COVID-19 origins story
2023-07-20 01:00
2 p.m. ET Thursday, July 20
We may never know whether COVID-19 originated with a leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology or was the result of a natural spillover event from an unknown animal. What is known is that ongoing scientific research on high-risk pathogens in laboratories around the world could be vulnerable to a leak, whether accidental or deliberate.
As investigative reporter Alison Young writes in “Pandora’s Gamble: Lab Leaks, Pandemics, and a World at Risk,” the truth is “lab accidents happen with shocking frequency, even in the world’s best-run labs.” That means journalists have a crucial role in holding the scientific community accountable.
In this webinar, Young will talk about her book and provide context about what is known about what happened at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and about lab leaks more broadly. She will provide resources and tips for staying on top of this very timely issue, which is being debated by law and policy makers, scientists and the public.
Watch the recording
Alison Young. Photo by Lisa V. Damico
Bara Vaida
Alison Young is an investigative reporter specializing in health, environmental and consumer issues. Her work has included revealing safety lapses at biological research labs, food manufacturers and nursing homes. She is a professor and program director for the University of Missouri School of Journalism’s Washington, D.C. program and has reported for USA TODAY, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Knight Ridder’s Washington Bureau, the Detroit Free Press, The Arizona Republic and the Dallas Times Herald. Her reporting honors include three Gerald Loeb Awards, three Scripps Howard Awards and a DuPont-Columbia Award.

Webinar: Breaking into narrative journalism
2023-07-24 01:00
12 p.m. ET Monday, July 24
Great narrative journalism takes readers on a journey by telling stories with scenes and characters as well developed as those you would find in a good novel. It’s gratifying to write, but the research, reporting and pitching of the idea to an outlet take time and determination. In this webinar, seasoned editors and reporters will offer tips for breaking into narrative journalism, including knowing what editors want, crafting pitches and figuring out whether the pay will be worth the effort.
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Jane C. Hu
Brady Huggett
Pamela Weintraub
Barbara Mantel
Pamela Weintraub is the senior editor for science and psychology at Aeon and the co-editor in chief at OpenMind magazine. Previously, Weintraub was senior editor, features editor and executive editor at Discover Magazine, where she assigned and edited long-form journalistic narratives and investigations that won numerous top journalistic awards and honors.
Brady Huggett is the enterprise editor at Spectrum, where he edits features and long-form projects. Before joining Spectrum, he served as business editor at Nature Biotechnology and managing editor at the biotech daily news service BioWorld. Huggett has master’s degrees in journalism and in creative writing and has won prizes for his fiction and nonfiction writing.
Jane C. Hu is a freelance journalist based in Seattle. Her work appears in publications like Slate, High Country News, WIRED, National Geographic, Smithsonian, Scientific American, Outside, and The Atlantic. She sits on the boards of the National Association of Science Writers and The Open Notebook.

Webinar: Maintaining Patient Access to Care in Rural America
2023-08-08 01:00
The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, with support from the Health Resources and Services Administration, is hosting a webinar to explore federal priorities related to rural healthcare access, as well as highlight a successful model to ensure rural patients can access hospital services.
The webinar will focus on the implementation and successes of the AZ REACH program, which serves as a patient transfer system that can be quickly mobilized during a variety of public health events. The webinar will also include discussion with the HRSA Federal Office of Rural Health Policy and CDC Office of Rural Health. The webinar is public and open to all.
When/where: Aug. 8, 2–3 p.m. EST (virtual only)
Contact: Call The Assocation of State and Territorial Health Officials at: (202) 371-9090
Featured Speakers:

Kristi Martinsen, Director of the Hospital State Division, Federal Office of Rural Health Policy, HRSA
Diane M. Hall, Ph.D., M.S.Ed., Director, Office of Rural Health, CDC
Lisa Villarroel, M.D., M.P.H., Medical Director, Division of Public Health Services, Arizona Department of Health Services
Charles Larsen, Co-Founder, Blackbox Healthcare Solutions
Erin Tams, Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer, Blackbox Healthcare Solutions

Click here to register for the webinar

1 year later: Assessing the 988 mental health hotline
2023-08-17 01:00
Thursday, Aug. 17 at 1:30 p.m. ET
The national 988 mental health crisis line was launched in July 2022 as an easier-to-remember alternative to the previous 10-digit hotline. The initiative, modeled after 911, is intended to reduce the incidence of suicide and the mental health crises that underlay suicidal ideation, attempts and fatalities. It is distinct from 911 in that it specifically addresses suicide crises.From the start, there have been questions about how well the hotline would function, including whether it would result in distressed people being involuntarily committed to psychiatric hospital wards or put the caller at risk of trauma or tragedy by sending armed police untrained in mental health interventions. Panelists — including a behavioral health policy researcher and a population health management strategist — will address those questions and related aspects of this topic.
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Vincent Atchity
Heather Saunders
Katti Gray

Vincent Atchity is president and CEO of Mental Health Colorado, which, in 2019, absorbed The Equitas Project, a national initiative to disentangle mental health and criminal justice that Atchity served as executive director. A population health management strategist, Atchity has worked on care management, cost control, outcomes improvement, workforce development, data integration, partnership network development and support, project design, education and fundraising. Atchity is a member of the Colorado Public Defender Commission, the Governor’s Strategic Planning Task Force to Increase Behavioral Health Access, the Denver District Attorney Advisory Council on Mental Health and the Colorado School of Public Health Behavioral Health Initiative Advisory Board. He has taught at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and Fordham University in New York and was an assistant dean of the University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health.
Heather Saunders is a postdoctoral fellow in the Kaiser Family Foundation Program on Medicaid and the Uninsured. Her work focuses on behavioral health policy, workforce adequacy and health care delivery for people with disabilities. Prior to joining KFF, Saunders was a researcher for Virginia’s Medicaid program. Before that, while employed as a social worker, she worked with clients in hospitals, schools and outpatient settings. She also managed randomized controlled trials in behavioral health care medical settings. Saunders earned a doctorate in health care policy and research from Virginia Commonwealth University. Her dissertation examined access to behavioral health services.
Katti Gray is AHCJ’s health beat leader for behavioral and mental health. A former Rosalynn Carter Mental Health Journalism Fellow, Gray is providing resources to help AHCJ members expand their coverage of mental health amid ongoing efforts to de-stigmatize mental illness and to place mental health care on par with all health care. She has covered, among other topics, mental health care in prisons and jails, the debate over whether mental illnesses are being over-diagnosed and efforts to persuade persons of color to be less skeptical about seeking counseling and other mental health services.

Recorded: Pushing past resistance to better firearms violence reporting
2023-11-06 12:00 - 13:00
In the fall of 2022, AHCJ held a summit in the Chicago suburbs that brought together researchers, clinicians, journalists and organizers to talk about how to change the “frame” of firearm violence reporting. The question was (and continues to be), how to apply a public health reporting approach to this problem. A movement toward ending “the crime brief” is gathering strength, but slowly, and there’s been pushback in newsrooms.

This webinar will explore how four journalists have tried to be part of the solution and the changes they’ve observed. They’ll share tips for managing managers, taking small steps (and feeling okay about that) and the importance of working closely in the communities most affected by the violence.

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Speakers

Kaitlin Washburn is AHCJ’s core topic leader on firearm violence. She is also a reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times. She was a gun violence reporter for two years in Missouri for The Kansas City Star as a Report for America corps member. Before that, Washburn was an agriculture reporter covering the omnipresent industry in California’s Central Valley for The Sun-Gazette, also as a part of RFA.

Abené Clayton is a reporter in the Guardian’s California office and is the lead reporter on the newspaper’s “Guns & Lies in America” series, which launched in 2019 and focuses on the impacts of and solutions to community violence. She started covering gun violence in her hometown of Richmond, California and is now based in Los Angeles where she covers the people who live where shootings and homicides happen most.

Christopher “Flood the Drummer” Norris is a two-time Emmy-nominated broadcast journalist and former managing editor for community and engagement at WHYY, the Philadelphia NPR and PBS affiliate. He established the radio/TV station’s community engagement department and hosted Community Conversations, a series of public affairs specials that tackled gun violence, police reform, voting rights, reparations and more.

Norris serves as the strategic advisor to the CEO of StoryCorps, a 20-year old national nonprofit organization that preserves and shares humanity’s stories in order to build connections between people and create a more just and compassionate world. He also oversees StoryCorps’ One Small Step, a national program that pairs strangers across the political divide for conversations about their lives, in an effort to reduce toxic polarization and highlight a shared humanity.

Sammy Caiola was most recently a gun violence prevention reporter at WHYY News in Philadelphia. In 2022 she was a professional mentor with the Philadelphia Center for Gun Violence Reporting’s Credible Messenger Program, and she currently serves as a senior fellow with the University of Southern California’s Domestic Violence Impact Fund. She was a 2023 Ochberg fellow with the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma. She is the co-host of “Stop and Frisk: Revisit or Resist”, a Murrow Award-winning podcast about policing and public safety, and “After the Assault”, a participatory journalism podcast about healing from sexual violence.

Reporting on addiction accurately and ethically
2023-11-27 13:00
The organization Reporting on Addiction began as a response to what its founders identified as misinformed, harmful coverage of opioid use disorder and the people and communities affected by it. The organization now offers nationwide training of student and professional journalists. This webinar will pinpoint some of the errors reporters make most often and present the research-informed viewpoints of experts, strategies and tips journalists can apply to solutions-based coverage of addiction treatment and related topics. The panel will also delve into how to incorporate into reporting the lived experience of people struggling with addiction.

Katti Gray is AHCJ’s health beat leader for behavioral and mental health and a former Rosalynn Carter Mental Health Journalism Fellow. Gray has covered, among other topics, mental health care in prisons and jails, the debate over whether mental illnesses are being over-diagnosed and efforts to persuade people of color to be less skeptical about seeking counseling and other mental health services. Her work has been published by The Washington Post, Salon, Reuters, among other publications. Her writings appear in,” The Criminalization of Mental Illness” and “Narrative Matters: Writing to Change the Health Care System,” among other books.

Ashton Marra, M.S., is co-founder and co-director of Reporting on Addiction, which trains professional and student journalists in solutions-focused journalism aimed at reducing stigmas about drug use disorders that the news media also have perpetuated. She teaches news writing, video storytelling and community-focused journalism at West Virginia University and is executive editor of 100 Days in Appalachia, an award-winning national news site whose editors, reporters, photographers, et al. are Appalachians.

Jonathan J.K. Stoltman, Ph.D., Opioid addiction and recovery researcher Jonathan J.K. Stoltman is co-founder and co-director of Reporting on Addiction and director of the Opioid Policy Institute. He earned a doctorate in lifespan developmental psychology from West Virginia University. His work has appeared in leading journals and media outlets and at national conferences. Currently, his work focuses on reproductive/sexual health, stigma/discrimination and digital approaches to addiction treatment.

The immigrant health beat: A practical and ethical guide
2023-11-29 13:00
All AHCJ event listings are in Eastern Standard Time.

Immigrants, who represent 14% of the U.S. population, aren’t inherently less healthy than their native-born counterparts. But research shows their health declines the longer they live in this country.

One of the major reasons is that there are barriers to accessing care, partly due to a lack of English language proficiency and health insurance. Noncitizen immigrants tend to work in low-wage jobs that don’t offer that benefit.

This AHCJ webinar will provide an overview of the state of immigrant health and ethical issues that journalists should be aware of when reporting on the health status of immigrants in the U.S. For instance, foreign-born people from the same country may have different socioeconomic backgrounds and legal immigration statuses. Reporters who interview undocumented immigrants need to be conscientious about the legal consequences that their sources may face if they use their names or images in stories.

Margarita Martín-Hidalgo Birnbaum is AHCJ’s health beat leader for health equity and an independent journalist based in Dallas. Over the years, her stories about health, as well as crime and other topics she covered early in her career, have appeared in WebMD, American Heart Association News, The Dallas Morning News, The Miami Herald and Reuters. Fluent in English and Spanish, Birnbaum is also an interpreter and translator. Her personal and professional experiences living and working in the U.S. and in several Central American countries have informed her reporting work in covering health disparity trends among racial and ethnic groups in the U.S.

Stella M. Chávez covers immigration for KERA, the NPR member station in Dallas. In 2019, she broke a national story about a large-scale immigration raid on a technology repair company in Allen, Texas. She also reported on the Uvalde school shooting and the mass shooting at an El Paso Walmart. Previously, she covered education and produced several multi-part projects, including “Generation One” about immigrant students in North Texas and The Race to Save Failing Schools about schools trying to meet state academic standards.

Before joining public radio, Chávez spent nearly 13 years as a daily newspaper reporter for The Dallas Morning News, The South Florida Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and The Ledger in Lakeland, Fla.

She’s received several national and state awards, including a 2021 Investigative Reporters & Editors award for the collaborative series: “Hot Days: Heat’s Mounting Death Toll on Workers in the U.S.” In 2007, she received the Livingston Award for Young Journalists in national reporting for “Yolanda’s Crossing,” a seven-part series that reconstructs the journey of a young sexual abuse victim from a village in Oaxaca, Mexico, to Dallas.

Adriana Menéndez is the social services manager at the Rural Women’s Health Project in Gainesville, Fla. In that capacity, she manages the day-to-day operations of Project Salud, a referral line catering to the needs of the Spanish-speaking community. She has collaborated with health care providers, legal experts, and social service agencies to expand the network of available resources for callers. Menéndez is an advocate for language access for minorities, emphasizing the importance of inclusivity and cultural sensitivity in service delivery.

Drishti Pillai, Ph.D., is the director of immigrant health policy at KFF. In that capacity, she oversees data and policy analysis about health care access trends and issues in that population, with a focus on health equity.

Before joining KFF, Dr. Pillai was the research director at the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum and a faculty member at George Washington University, where her research focused on public charge rules, population differences in access to maternal and child health services, and access to government programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Dr. Pillai holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from The Ohio State University, a Master of Public Health degree from Emory University and a Ph.D. in public policy from George Washington University.

The analyses that Dr. Pillai has published at KFF include:

Health and Health Care Experiences of Immigrants: The 2023 KFF/LA Times Survey of Immigrants

Health and Health Care in the U.S.-Mexico Border Region

Employment Among Immigrants and Implications for Health and Health Care

Reckoning with the Bill Gates mythos
2023-12-01 13:00
A Q&A with investigative journalist Tim Schwab

All AHCJ event listings are in Eastern Standard Time.

Does Bill Gates get a free pass from journalists because many have so completely internalized the idea of him as “the good billionaire”? Or is Gates truly influencing news content through the grants he makes to news organizations?

Maybe it’s both. At least that’s the argument that investigative reporter Tim Schwab makes in his new book, “The Bill Gates Problem: Reckoning With the Myth of the Good Billionaire.”Schwab spent years reporting on billionaire Bill Gates and the Gates Foundation and has produced a counter-narrative about Gates’s activities around the world. This Q&A will examine how Gates funding influences journalism, the challenges of critically reporting on foundation activities, and the role of philanthropy in health care.

Mary Chris Jaklevic is AHCJ’s health beat leader for patient safety based in Chicago. She’s an independent journalist who has covered health care finance, clinical care and medical research for a variety of professional and consumer publications. Her interest in patient safety issues and the potential harms of medical interventions was honed by her experience as 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 treatments and tests. She’s a longtime AHCJ member and served on the board for two terms.

Tim Schwab is an investigative journalist based in Washington, D.C. His groundbreaking reporting on the Gates Foundation for The Nation, Columbia Journalism Review, and The British Medical Journal has been honored with an Izzy Award and a Deadline Club Award. “The Bill Gates Problem: Reckoning with the Myth of the Good Billionaire” is his first book.
