Health and Medicine Journalist
I have been a journalist for over two decades. My undergraduate work was done at Rochester Institute of Technology in graphic design/photography/printing and I did my master's degree in journalism coursework at the University of Missouri, Columbia. I have collaborated on investigative stories and currently have an interest in contested diseases.
<p>The association of a murine retrovirus with ME/CFS appears to be no longer viable, but many of the researchers who can't find XMRV in patients still believe that other viruses are at play.</p>
<p>Moving beyond sensationalism to providing balance as well as reliable, accurate facts in meaningful context can be challenging.</p>
<p>Clinical trials aren't just about drugs. Should other interventions be given a pass because Big Pharma isn't involved?</p>
<p>With only 17 to 18 percent of NIH grant applications funded this year - the lowest level on record - are RCTs costing millions, cost effective?</p>
<p>Do death threats to an isolated few make for good journalism or just sensationalism? And in pursuing the unusual do journalists run the risk of skewing the overall situation? Does having one source on each side of the issue really provide accurate balance and meaningful context? Questions are easy, answers are harder.</p>
<p>Determining an ethical code is not as easy as it sounds when you take into to account a wide variety of cultures, journalistic training, and the constraints upon journalists in a variety of situations around the world.</p>
