Michelle Levander

<p>This Sunday evening, we began our week-long National Health Journalism Fellowships, which brings together 20 journalists to discuss, debate and learn about health journalism topics. At our keynote dinner, we had a chance to meet and hear from our National Health Journalism Fellows and the grantees of our Dennis A. Hunt Fund for Health Journalism who had joined us from across the country.</p>

<p>In a little more than two weeks, we will launch our 2010 National Health Journalism Fellowships. Of course, we hope and expect that the talented journalists who participate will produce great stories. But we will know this program has succeeded if it prompts participants to challenge conventional notions of what constitutes a health story. Seminar speakers will touch upon topics as varied as international trade and gang violence. But running through the Fellowships' weeklong extended conversation is a common theme: the links between Place and Health.</p>

<p>Melvin Baron has spent his career educating the public about health and medicine, first as a pharmacist and then as a <a href="http://www.usc.edu/schools/pharmacy/faculty_directory/detail.php?id=25"… Associate Professor of Clinical Pharmacy</a>. He’s 77 now, and he confesses to some frustration with the handouts that pharmacists and doctors use to inform patients about health and medicine.</p> <p>“Much of what we give you is lousy,” he told me. “It’s a lot of words. Most of it is way above the audience. It doesn’t resonate and it’s boring.”</p>

<p>The Internet and social media have a way of upending professional conventions and giving rise to new models. &nbsp;As traditional boundaries blur, some unique collaborations have emerged between cutting-edge journalists and public health practitioners. I’ve been fascinating by some of these projects, which have yielded new insights, ground-breaking stories and new ways of connecting with the public.&nbsp;</p>

<p><a href="http://twitter.com/DrPam?utm_source=follow&amp;utm_campaign=twitter2008…. Pam</a>, whom I just began following on Twitter, shares this interesting <a href="http://healthcarereform.nejm.org/?p=2201&amp;query=TOC">article</a&gt; about which medicine will define America as we head toward historic health reform. Worth a read. If the New England Journal is having this debate, it suggests a sea change in thinking about medicine and medical technology and its role in improving health for all. Please share your thoughts!</p>

<p>The goal was anything but modest. On Monday, 22 leaders from San Francisco Bay Area public health and journalism circles gathered in Oakland to brainstorm about ways to transform the way journalists report on health.</p>

<p><em>Ambitious stories will tackle critical community health issues such as industrial contamination, the environmental factors that contribute to obesity, and the underlying causes of health disparities in urban environments.</em></p>