My Fellowship game plan

I'm honored that I've been selected to participate in the California Endowment Health Journalism Fellowship sessions in Los Angeles next month. Since I just started covering this beat last year, I'm looking forward to learning all about health issues from smart people and putting those lessons to use at home in San Francisco. Also pretty excited about soaking up some sun in my Southern California hometown.

Without giving away too much about my proposal, here's a brief summary. I plan to write about three separate, ongoing projects that attempt to address health disparities in underserved communities in Northern California. The settings range from urban to rural, but each story will explore the innovative efforts of scientists, community leaders and government officials to combat obesity, difficult access to fresh food, toxic chemicals, poverty and other factors that contribute to health disparities. While I plan to delve deeply into the nuances of policy and research, I will also put a human face to these challenges by telling the stories of community members.