Association of Health Care Journalists

American Public Health Association Annual Meeting 2023
2023-11-11 01:00 - 2023-11-16 00:59 (America/New_York)
The American Public Health Association (APHA) will be hosting its annual meeting in Atlanta from Nov. 12-15. Journalists covering the event will have access to thousands of public health experts, more than 4,000 scientific papers and thousands of oral presentations on topics from infectious diseases and gun violence to health equity and disparities.

When/Where: Nov. 12-15; Atlanta

Contact: Email APHA Media Relations at mediarelations@apha.org

For more information, visit the APHA site.

Neuroscience 2023 Conference
2023-11-11 00:00 - 2023-11-15 23:59 | Walter E. Washington Convention Center, 801 Allen Y. Lew Place NW, Washington, District of Columbia, 20001, United States
Scientists from around the world will congregate at Neuroscience 2023 to discover new ideas, share their research, and experience the best the field has to offer.

Contact: Email the Society for Neuroscience at info@sfn.org or call the Society at (202)962-4000

Where/When: Nov. 11–15 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C.

Media Registration

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.

Watch the recording

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.

Homelessness and Health: An AHCJ Summit
2023-11-02 06:30 - 2023-11-03 11:00 | Waterfront Hotel – JDV by Hyatt, Waterfront Hotel - JDV by Hyatt 10 Washington Street, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
Housing is a health care issue.

Research leaves little doubt about the negative impact a lack of a place to call home has on people’s health. The toll on mental and emotional health is enormous, alongside the physical harms. People experiencing homelessness are more vulnerable to becoming victims of crime, especially women, and more likely to experience a medical emergency. Unsurprisingly, the life expectancy of people who are unhoused is significantly lower than for the general population. Alarms are sounding about the nation’s aging, unhoused population.

We’re going to dig into this complicated issue at our fall summit Nov. 2-3 in Oakland, Calif. Setting aside the politics while being mindful of the myths surrounding homelessness, we’ll bring together experts, journalists and people with lived experience to talk about:

What the research shows about who is experiencing homelessness and the factors that contributed to them losing their housing.How “street teams” are addressing people’s critical health needs and providing a bridge to more sustained care.Approaches to addressing the mental and behavioral health needs of people who are unhoused.The upstream causes of homelessness and promising approaches to preventing it.

What the research shows about who is experiencing homelessness and the factors that contributed to them losing their housing.

How “street teams” are addressing people’s critical health needs and providing a bridge to more sustained care.

Approaches to addressing the mental and behavioral health needs of people who are unhoused.

The upstream causes of homelessness and promising approaches to preventing it.

View the program

HotelWaterfront Hotel- JDV by Hyatt10 Washington StreetOakland, Calif.

Book your hotel room in the AHCJ block here.

Registrations made after Oct. 13 will not include meals.

AirThe Oakland International Airport (OAK) is a breeze to navigate and is only 8 miles from downtown Oakland. San Francisco International Airport (SFO) is 26 miles from Oakland Marriott City Center. Both airports are served by BART. Taxi’s, Uber and Lyft are also easily available at both airports.

Rapid TransitBay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area. The 12th Street Center is located approximately 6 blocks from the Waterfront Hotel. Plan your trip and get fares by using Trip Planner. Add Clipper to your phone in advance of arriving to the station. Clipper is available for mobile phones through either Apple Pay or Google Wallet. Every rider age 5 and up needs their own digital card. Clipper is a regional transit card that can be used on all transit in the Bay Area. If you are going to ride the Cable Car, ferry, or buses, put Clipper on your phone. As of October 2022, new plastic Clipper cards may not be available to purchase at SFO station due to global supply chain issues.

RailTravelers can reach Oakland by train at Amtrak’s Jack London Square station, approximately 0.4 mile from Waterfront Hotel.

WaterTake in panoramic views as you cruise on the water and under the Bay Bridge to various SF Bay Ferry terminals. Arrive or Board at Jack London Square and relish the ocean air on your face during the half-hour trip from/to San Francisco, Oracle Park, and more. The Jack London Square Terminal is adjacent to the Waterfront Hotel

CarWaterfront Hotel offers self parking. For those attending but not staying overnight, ample parking is available at the Washington Street (Washington Street And Embarcadero) and Jack London (Broadway AND Embarcadero) Garages, both located less than a block from the hotel.

LOCAL HOST

SPONSORS

Application Deadline for Power of Diverse Voices: Writing Workshop for Journalists of Color
2023-09-15 01:00
The Poynter Institute, a leading instructor of journalists, is hosting a persuasive writing workshop for journalists of color from Nov. 15-18 in St. Petersburg, Fla. Journalists will network and practice new writing techniques in small-group writing and coaching sessions.
The application deadline is Sept. 15, 2023. The workshop is free to accepted candidates. Travel costs are not covered.
When/Where: Nov. 15-18; St. Petersburg, Fla.
Contact: Email the Poynter Institute at info@poynter.org For more information, visit the Poynter website.

The 5 Most Urgent Conversations About Rural Health
2023-08-24 08:00 | Hotel Kansas City, 1228 Baltimore Avenue, Kansas City, MO, Missouri, 64105-1908
AHCJ Rural Health Journalism Workshop 2023 — Kansas City

Join us in Kansas City on Aug. 24 for the 2023 Rural Health Journalism Workshop! This year’s theme is “The 5 Most Urgent Conversations About Rural Health.”

We’ll start with an overview of rural demographics and then talk about:

Investigating environmental health — access points and pointers

How rural harm reduction fits into the fight against overdose

Rural mental health care: Reaching cultural competency

Finding a maternal health solution for rural America

How people get health care information in news deserts

Registration opens on July 5 and closes on Aug. 11.

Book your hotel room in the AHCJ block here at Hotel Kansas City by Aug. 1.

Registration (advance registration includes lunch):

Members: $25

Non-members: $35

Non-members + a six-month AHCJ membership: $60

PR/PIO: $80

Advance registration is closed, however, on-site registration will be available at the event: $50 (On-site registration does not include meals)

Scholarships are available to offset attendance for Kansas and Missouri-based journalists that can assist with mileage and registration. Apply here.

Location:Hotel Kansas City1228 Baltimore AvenueKansas City, Mo. 64105816-685-1228

Meeting:Starlight Ballroom, 15th floor, Hotel Kansas CityUpon entry through the Front Entrance on Baltimore, Guests will walk through the lobby, past the front desk toward the double elevators. The Starlight Elevator is located to the left of the Town Company Restaurant (Starlight is not accessible from the double elevators).

If you are staying at the hotel overnight, you will need to return to the lobby to access the sleeping rooms by using the double elevator.

Parking garageAuditorium Plaza Garage1220 Wyandotte Street, Kansas City MO 64105Daily parking is rated at $12 but is subject to change or event parking rates.

Walking directions from the parking garage to the hotel.

Head south on Wyandotte St toward W 13th St

Turn left onto W 13th St

Turn left onto Baltimore Ave

Hotel will be on the left

LOCAL HOSTS

SPONSORS

The 5 Most Urgent Conversations About Rural Health: An AHCJ Workshop
2023-08-24 01:00
Join us in Kansas City on Aug. 24 for the 2023 Rural Health Journalism Workshop! This year’s theme is “The 5 Most Urgent Conversations About Rural Health.”
We’ll start with an overview of rural demographics and then talk about:

Investigating environmental health — access points and pointers
The harm reduction argument for rural America
Telemental health: It works when it’s culturally appropriate
Finding a maternal health solution for rural America
How people get health care information in news deserts

Register here

Registration opens on July 5 and closes on Aug. 11.
Book your hotel room in the AHCJ block here at Hotel Kansas City by Aug. 1.
Fees:

Members: $25
Non-members: $35
Non-members a 6 month AHCJ membership: $60
PR/PIO: $80

Scholarships are available to offset attendance for Kansas and Missouri-based journalists that can assist with mileage, registration and one hotel night. Apply here.

Location:

Hotel Kansas City1228 Baltimore AvenueKansas City, Mo. 64105816-685-1228
Meeting:Starlight Ballroom, 15th floor, Hotel Kansas CityUpon entry through the Front Entrance on Baltimore, Guests will walk through the lobby, past the front desk toward the double elevators. The Starlight Elevator is located to the left of the Town Company Restaurant (Starlight is not accessible from the double elevators).
If you are staying at the hotel overnight, you will need to return to the lobby to access the sleeping rooms by using the double elevator.
Parking garageAuditorium Plaza Garage1220 Wyandotte Street, Kansas City MO 64105Daily parking is rated at $12 but is subject to change or event parking rates.

Walking directions from the parking garage to the hotel.

Head south on Wyandotte St toward W 13th St
Turn left onto W 13th St
Turn left onto Baltimore Ave
Hotel will be on the left

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.
Watch the recording
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.

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

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.
Watch the recording
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: 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: 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: 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.

Application Deadline: Above the Fray International Reporting Fellowship
2023-07-01 01:00
The John Alexander Project and NPR jointly operate the Above the Fray fellowship, designed for promising early-career journalists who want to report a significant story from an underreported region of the world. One fellow is selected each year.
Those with at least five but no more than seven years of journalism experience are eligible to apply. The final story will air on NPR if it meets its standards.
The total duration of the fellowship is five to six months, with two months spent reporting in the field. The fellowship covers all production and living expenses for the duration.
Application deadline: July 1, 2023
Sponsors: The John Alexander Project and NPR
More information: www.thejohnalexanderproject.org
Contact:

Patrick Alexander — patrick@thejohnalexanderproject.org

Anne Marler — anne@thejohnalexanderproject.org

Alissa Shapiro — alissa@thejohnalexanderproject.org

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.

Application Deadline Approaching: USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism National Fellowship
2023-05-28 01:00
This week-long intensive learning fellowship provides accepted journalists with the opportunity to deeply report on a social issue that impacts health. Fellows are awarded a $2,000-$10,000 grant and receive five months of mentoring.

Application deadline: May 28

Vist this webpage for more information.

Beat Academy (Poynter Institute)
2023-05-18 01:00
The Poynter Institute is offering a series of webinars to provide tips, sources, inspiration and ideas to cover a set of emerging beats on many topics.
Webinars that may be of most interest to health journalists include:

Preparing for climate change (replays available)
Tracking American Rescue Plan Act (pandemic funding) funds in your local community (May 18)
Health care trends in non-metro areas (Sept. 7, 21)
Misinformation (Oct. 5, 19)

When/Where: Thursdays from 1-2:30 p.m. EST; replays available for all participants
Visit this webpage to register.

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: 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.

Apply for Center for Health Journalism Fellowship
2023-05-05 01:00
The University of Southern California’s Center for Health Journalism is accepting applications for its 2023 National Fellowship. The fellowship will provide $2,000 to $10,000 reporting grants, five months of mentoring from a veteran journalist and a week of intensive training at the university in Los Angeles from July 16-20. The program prepares fellows to report a major enterprise health or social well-being reporting project.
Application Deadline: May 5, 2023
When/Where: July 16-20 in Los Angeles
Contact: editor@centerforhealthjournalism.org
Learn how to apply here.

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: 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.

Symposium: “What Could Cause the Next Pandemic?”
2023-04-24 01:00
In the aftermath of the pandemic, scientists are looking at how SARS-CoV-2 arose and how humanity responded to the virus to better prepare for the next potential pandemic. In this symposium, researchers will highlight the conditions that make a pathogen more likely to cause a pandemic, what precautions can be taken from scientific, diagnostic, and therapeutic perspectives, and the role of public health in pandemic preparedness.
When/Where: April 24, 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. EST
Speakers include:

Jason Kindrachuk, Ph.D., Canada Research Chair, Assistant Professor, Max Rady College of Medicine, Medical Microbiology and Infectious Disease, at the University of Manitoba. Kindrachuk will talk about emerging zoonotic virus preparedness in the lab and in the field.

Florian Krammer, Ph.D., Professor of Vaccinology, Department of Microbiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Principle Investigator, Sinai-Emory Multi-Institutional Collaborative Influenza Vaccine Innovation Center, Co-Director, Mount Sinai Center for Vaccine Research and Pandemic Preparedness (C-VARPP). Krammer will speak on viruses with pandemic potential.

Chee Wah Tan, Ph.D., Senior Research Fellow, Programme in Emerging Infectious Diseases, at Duke-NUS Medical School. Tan will talk about the latest antibody testing research targeting SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

Saskia Popescu, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Biodefense Program, Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University. Popescu will talk about global health security vulnerabilities.

Contact: info@the-scientist.com or call The Scientist at (705) 528-6888
Click here and follow the prompt to register.

“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

Apply to be a Wake Forest Mellon Environmental Justice Journalism Fellow
2023-03-20 01:00
The Wake Forest University Environmental and Epistemic Justice Initiative, funded by the Mellon Foundation, is a research, teaching and community engagement project that focuses on environmental and epistemic justice. It will host a 2023 Summer Institute for four to six early- to mid-career journalists as the inaugural class of Wake Forest Mellon Environmental Justice Journalism Fellows.
The program will highlight issues of race, racialization and the environment at the local and regional level with possible applicability to other communities across the United States. Issues of environmental justice often significantly impact health, and health journalists are encouraged to apply.
The program’s goal is to improve coverage of the many facets of environmental justice journalism while aiding in diversifying the ranks of environmental journalism.
Sponsor: Wake Forest University Environmental and Epistemic Justice Initiative
When/Where: June 26-30, 2023 at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Application deadline: March 20, 2023
Stipend: $2,500 plus travel and accommodation expenses
Details: from Wake Forest University

Health Journalism 2023 - St. Louis
2023-03-09 03:00 - 2023-03-12 08:00 | St. Louis Union Station, 1820 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri, 63103, United States
The St. Louis Union Station Hotel light show plays during the HJ23 Thursday night reception.(Photo by Zachary Linhares)

HJ23 draws large crowd to the Gateway to the West

By AHCJ Staff

More than 550 people gathered in St. Louis for Health Journalism ’23, with at least 300 organizations represented.

As always, old friends and colleagues reconnected while new friendships and work relationships were formed, facilitated by the nearly 40 meetups created during the event and 3,000-plus messages sent to the community board in the conference app, Whova.

Exhibitors

Hotel

Program

Two field trips, seven featured speakers, a wide variety of panel discussions, two evening receptions, the annual awards luncheon, plus a bonus trip to the historic Gateway Arch drew great reviews. Attendance was slightly higher than last year’s conference in Austin.

AHCJ’s Board of Directors held its twice-yearly meeting the day before conference sessions began. They discussed trends in membership growth, heard updates on AHCJ’s website redesign, and learned about implementation of the new mentorship program.

Other conference highlights

In an inspiring keynote address moderated by board member Marlene Harris-Taylor, Pulitzer-prize-winning author Tracy Kidder and physician to the homeless Jim O’Connell, M.D., talked about Kidder’s newest book, “Rough Sleepers: Dr. Jim O’Connell’s Urgent Mission to Bring Healing to Homeless People.” The discussion delved into the causes and complex solutions to homelessness and how journalists can improve their reporting on the subject.

In a fireside chat moderated by AHCJ Executive Director Kelsey Ryan, former U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams talked about growing up with severe asthma in rural Maryland and what it taught him about health inequities. Adams, who is now a presidential fellow, executive director of health equity initiatives and a distinguished professor of practice in the Departments of Pharmacy Practice and Public Health at Purdue University in Indiana, also addressed some of the criticisms he faced while working under former President Donald Trump. He called upon journalists to help make health news relevant to readers by using data from their communities and to try to be as apolitical as possible in reporting on health.

At PitchFest, AHCJ’s signature freelance event, 48 writers pitched their story ideas to 19 editors from publications including The Pulse, AARP, Juvenile Justice Info Exchange, MedPage Today and Mindsite News.

During the “Malignant misinformation: The quest for a ‘cure,’” roundtable discussion, co-moderated by Kaiser Family Foundation Senior Fellow Irving Washington and Washington Post reporter Lauren Weber, the discussion focused on what technology companies, medical journals and health communicators can do collaboratively to counter harmful falsehoods before they snowball. Google/YouTube Director and Global Head Healthcare and Public Health Garth Graham and JAMA editor-in-chief Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo were the featured speakers.

Recipients of the 2022 Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism were also recognized in 14 reporting categories.

If you missed the conference or are looking for session summaries and resources, check out coverage on AHCJ’s website, visit the conference page in Novi or browse the conference media gallery to view photos from sessions, receptions and more.

The conference was hosted by Washington University in St. Louis/BJC HealthCare and Missouri Foundation for Health. Endowing sponsors included the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

HOSTS

ENDOWING SPONSORS

SPONSORS

Virtual Value-Based Insurance Design (V-BID) Summit
2023-03-08 01:00
The University of Michigan Center for Value-Based Insurance Design will host a virtual V-BID Summit, “Accelerating Health Equity”
When/Where: Noon-4 p.m. EST, Wednesday, March 8 (online)
To see the agenda and to register, visit this webpage.

Dollars and Sense: The ABCs of Financial Caregiving
2023-02-22 01:00
The University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing is hosting a financial caregiving virtual event. Surya Kolluri, head of the TIAA Institute, will look at the role of financial caregiving in the context of overall caregiving; planning for these costs and incorporating them into other aspects of caregiving.
When/Where: Noon-1 p.m. EST, February 22, 2023 (virtual)
To register, visit this webpage.

Freelancers: How to find high-paying clients
2023-02-22 01:00
Organizer: The Writers Co-op
When/Where: 3-4 p.m. EST, Wednesday, February 22, 2021
Location: Online
Cost: $35
For more information or to register, visit this webpage.

Panelists:

Charley Locke is a writer, editor and producer who writes for The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post and ACLU Magazine. Her other clients include Quartz Creative, Hello Sunshine, and IDEO. She also works on podcasts for Pineapple Street Studios, At Will Media and Tooley Productions.
Jessica Estrada is a writer, journalist and editor whose byline appears in Refinery29, Byrdie, The Zoe Report, Bustle, The Knot and Cosmpolitan, among others. She also creates content for brands.
