Insights

<p>Since this conference began on Thursday (an eon ago), we health writers have been confronted with a series of fascinating if not always easily grasped topics in public health. Elicitation strategies in social epidemiology. The use of P-values to analyze medical findings. Grandfathered insurance plans. The biochemistry of the hippocampus.</p><p>It’s a deluge that can send you scurrying for cover. In my case, it’s made me do some thinking about the power of story.</p>

<p><a href="http://sph.berkeley.edu/faculty/syme.php">Leonard Syme</a>, professor emeritus at the University of California-Berkeley School of Public Health, is something of a bomb thrower when it comes to talking about his field, <a href="http://www.paho.org/english/sha/be_v23n1-socialepi.htm">social epidemiology</a>.</p>

<p>Dr. Michael C. Lu's paradigm shift in medicine is called a "life course perspective": the idea that health is not isolated to stages of life, but that those stages are interconnected. It is the philosophical underpinning behind his devotion to prenatal care. Indeed, there are some surprising connections between mothers' lifestyles and nutrition during pregnancy and lifelong health effects on their children.</p>

<p>I’ve spent years covering health and medicine, and because I teach kids, I’m especially aware of the public health gospel: Control your diet, exercise, and if you smoke, stop.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>But the person who’s really taught me about healthy living is my Aunt Nicole.</p>

<p>It's the kind of thing that makes traditionalists in journalism cringe, and convinces them that technology will ruin the integrity of news. SEO is the tech acronym for "search engine optimization," ways to design websites and content that will rank highly in search results. What many journalists might not realize is that the techniques of SEO are actually not that far off from the fundamentals of hard news.</p>

<p>Today’s <em>Daily Briefing</em> comes to you from the halls of the California Endowment Health Journalism Fellowships seminars. Join the conversation about new ideas in health journalism with the <a href="http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23chjf">hashtag #chjf on Twitter</a>&nbsp;as you get today’s e

<p>Health reporters receive calls from people all the time who say they are experiencing symptoms of <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/cfs/">chronic fatigue syndrome</a>, <a href="http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/fibromyalgia/DS00079">fibromyalgia</a&…;, and, most recently, <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/unexplaineddermopathy/">Morgellons</a&gt;, and they can’t get help.

<p>The California Health Journalism Fellowship is officially underway after our first meeting tonight, here in downtown Los Angeles. Keynote speaker and social epidemiologist Carolyn Cannuscio presented her jaw-droppingly thorough report on health in needy Philadelphia communities, and I wanted to share a few thoughts before calling it a night.</p>

<p>Carolyn Cannuscio comes from an avid newspaper-reading family. The health and science sections were always the table favorites. She recalls a conversation with her father where he imparted his wish that she do "something big" with her career. "Write a letter to Jane Brody about your work!" he sai

<p>Here’s what we’re checking out today:</p> <p><strong>Health Insurance:</strong> Los Angeles’ City Attorney has <a href="http://www.latimes.com/health/la-fi-healthmarkets-20101021,0,7689480.st… national health insurer HealthMarkets</a> and its financial backers, including Goldman Sachs Group, for selling “junk insurance” to consumers and businesses, Duke Helfand of the Los Angeles Times reports.</p>