NIH to host symposium: Medicine in the media

The challenge of reporting on medical research

Medicine in the Media: The Challenge of Reporting on Medical Research will be presented from June 8 through June 10 at The Cloisters on the NIH campus. Using an evidence-based approach, the symposium builds on your current expertise and experience while offering new tools to assist you in the important tasks of evaluating research findings, selecting stories that have meaningful information for your target audience, and putting that information in the appropriate context.

Prominent experts in medical research and medical journalism will work with you in re-examining intuitive beliefs about medicine. Interactive sessions incorporate your perspective on the public's need for useful medical knowledge while working with you on developing story ideas based on cutting-edge research. Invited speakers and discussion topics are detailed below.

Based on your background, you are among the first journalists receiving this invitation to apply to participate in this symposium, in particular because of the important role you fill in communicating meaningful, and often critical, health information to the public. While there will be no charge for participating in the symposium, space is limited so you are encouraged to apply as soon as possible. Instructions for the web-based application process and additional information are available at our website, http://medmediacourse.nih.gov. You may also email us for more information at medmedia@od.nih.gov or call (301) 496-6615. The deadline for application is April 1, 2003.

As a supplement to the 2003 media symposium, the Fogarty International Center at NIH will offer an additional program on Thursday and Friday, June 5-6. The program is offered to journalists from the developing world and will focus on international health issues. A limited number of spaces are available to other media symposium participants who cover international health. Please contact us for more information.

TOPICS OF DISCUSSION

Getting Information: Finding reliable sources, background, and related literature.
The Critical Eye: Dissecting news and research articles.
How I Wrote the Story, with seasoned journalists across different media.
Accumulating the Evidence: Taking the Researcher's Perspective. An interactive session on designing a study.
Levels of Evidence among Clinical Studies: Understanding the most important types of clinical studies, and looking at their results with a critical eye.
Cancer Screening: The Clash of Evidence and Intuition. A closer look at what we think we know about early detection of disease.
Reporting Health Risks and Medical Statistics: A Practical Guide. What do different risk numbers mean, and how can they be presented so they are meaningful to your audience?
Ethical Concerns in Research
Reporting on a Study: A hands-on exercise to develop a story from a press release, followed by large-group discussion with a panel of expert journalists and scientists.
Newsroom Issues: A frank and open discussion: what gets in your way of presenting the best story, and what can you do about it?

Invited Speakers:

Barnett Kramer, MD, MPH
National Institutes of Health
Robert Park, PhD
University of Maryland
Melinda Voss
Association of Health Care Journalists
Steve Woolf, MD
U.S. Preventive Services Task Force
Lisa Schwartz, MD, & Steve Woloshin, MD
Dartmouth University
Mark Zweig, MD
National Cancer Institute
Katherine Arnold
Journal of the National Cancer Institute
Catherine Vojdik
ABC Weekend World News Tonight
Judy Peres
Chicago Tribune
Ron Winslow
Wall Street Journal
Ivan Oransky, MD
The Scientist

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