2017 Health Journalism Event Support

This project would support the annual conference of AHCJ, Health Journalism 2017 in Orlando; the 2017 Rural Health Journalism Workshop (location TBD); and the 2017 World Conference of Science Journalists held in San Francisco. The Health Journalism conference will host approximately 700 attendees from around the country for dozens of panels, workshops, and field trips to help educate journalists on a variety of key health care topics. The Fund support will assist with speaker travel, lodging, AV requirements, marketing, and general conference costs associated with the arrangement of this large-scale event. The Rural Health Journalism workshop has in the past covered topics such as the business of health care, immigrant health, urban health, senior health, and health data. This year, in partnership with the National Association of Science Writers, AHCJ will produce a track of health-related sessions for the World Conference of Science Journalists conference, which is being hosted in the U.S. for the first time.

As stated above, with news organizations cutting their budgets, it is important to have a well-trained cadre of journalists who can speak to the topics of health care, especially as the system continues to change. Health care is complicated, and this conference and workshop reach journalists who often do not have ready access to training opportunities.