Insights

You learn a lot when you spend months reporting on a given issue or community, as our fellows can attest. Whether you’re embarking on a big new story or seeking to go deeper on a given issue, it pays to learn from those who’ve already put in the shoe leather and crunched the data. In these essays and columns, our community of journalists steps back from the notebooks and tape to reflect on key lessons, highlight urgent themes, and offer sage advice on the essential health stories of the day. 

Author(s)
By Rebecca Plevin

About three years ago, Georgina González left her three siblings, three children, and three grandchildren in Puebla, México and immigrated to Fresno in search of better economic opportunities.
What she found here, though, was an opportunity to receive health care after she was diagnosed with breast

Author(s)
By Barbara Feder Ostrov

<p>As 2011 unfolds, I’d like to share some of my favorite health journalism – much but not all of it policy-related – from 2010. This is definitely not a best-of list, but rather journalism that can inspire and teach us.</p> <p>Here are my first five picks, in no particular order of importance. I’ll share the next five next week.</p> <p>Happy New Year!</p>

Author(s)
By Elizabeth Simpson

<p>Now that I've finished the last of the three fellowship stories I proposed six months ago, I'll take a moment to write about the lessons I have learned.</p>

Author(s)
By William Heisel

<p>Andrew Wakefield — creator of one of the greatest&nbsp;scares in medical history — had many accomplices in misleading the world about a link between vaccines and autism. Many in the media helped him spread his intellectual poison. Celebrities rallied behind his fake cause. And the scientific community helped keep the hoax alive by citing his work as if it were legitimate.</p>