Sixteen Journalists Receive Kaiser Mini-Fellowships to Report on Global Health Issues
MENLO PARK, CA --The Kaiser Family Foundation announced today the recipients of the Kaiser Mini-Fellowships in Global Health Reporting for 2009. Sixteen journalists were selected to research and report on global health issues, with a particular focus on issues related to HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria. The program is part of Kaiser’s broader effort to encourage in-depth reporting and inform the public on the medical, social, economic, political and cultural implications of major public health issues in the U.S. and around the world.
Beginning in January 2009, the Fellows for Global Health Reporting will undertake the following projects:
Helen Branswell, medical reporter, The Canadian Press, Toronto, Canada
Project: Polio eradication: Can the job be done?
Chris Cobb, staff writer, The Ottawa Citizen, Ottawa, Canada
Project: Innovative efforts to provide clean water and cheap sanitation facilities in Africa
Fruto Corre, independent filmmaker, Brooklyn, NY
Project: HIV, migration, and AIDS prevention initiatives in the Philippines
Jackedja Francois, independent television producer, New York, NY
Project: Food security and HIV prevention and treatment in Haiti
Kenny Goldberg, health reporter, KPBS/FM Public Radio, San Diego, CA
Project: The impact of needle exchange programs in combating Hepatitis C
Christopher Grosskurth, national reporter, CBC News, Toronto, Canada
Project: Tuberculosis in India and its implications for North America
Alison Hawkes, freelance writer and public radio reporter, New York, NY
Project: Uganda's use of DDT in malaria control efforts
Jeneen Interlandi, health and science reporter, Newsweek, New York, NY
Project: Battling the multi-drug resistant tuberculosis epidemic in Baku, Azerbaijan
Jori Lewis, freelance writer and radio producer, Brooklyn, NY
Project: Controlling childhood pneumonia mortality rates in The Gambia
Tony Leys, health affairs writer, and Mary Chind, photographer, The Des Moines Register
Project: Post-conflict health crises in Uganda
Carol Lloyd, columnist, The San Francisco Chronicle magazine, Monteverde, Costa Rica
Project: The impact of Chagas disease in Latin America and implications for the U.S.
Allan Richards, associate dean, Florida International University School of Journalism and Mass Communication, and journalist, Miami, FL
Project: Innovative South African media initiatives on HIV/AIDS
Elizabeth Chiles Shelburne, global health correspondent, Globalpost.com, and freelance writer
Project: Treatment protocols and the outbreak of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis in South Africa
Gregory Warner, freelance writer/producer, New York, NY
Project: Comparing the effectiveness of male circumcision programs in Rwanda and Kenya
Gavin Yamey, M.D., senior editor, PLoS Medicine, San Francisco, CA
Project: Implementing low cost, low tech global health tools: what are the barriers to scaling up? Focused on male circumcision, bed nets and antimicrobial drugs
The annual fellowship program awards up to $10,000 to journalists to cover travel and research expenses relating to a specific project of their choice for publication or broadcast. The reporting completed as part of the Fellowship will be posted on http://www.kff.org/mediafellows/minifellows.cfm. A complete list of Kaiser’s Media Fellowship programs and program details is available at http://www.kff.org/mediafellows/index.cfm .
Fellows were selected by an international group of senior editors. The Kaiser Mini-Fellows Selection Committee members are:
- Greg Branch, Independent Television and Radio Journalist
- Johnny Grimond, Foreign Correspondent, The Economist
- Raul Ramirez, News & Public Affairs Director, Executive Producer, KQED Public Radio
- Tina Rosenberg, Writer, The New York Times Magazine
In addition to the Kaiser Mini-Fellowships for Global Health Reporting, the Foundation sponsors the Kaiser Media Fellowships in Health for mid-career journalists in the U.S., and the Kaiser Media Internships in Health Reporting for young journalists in the U.S. interested in specializing in health reporting. Hundreds of journalists have participated in the fellowship and internship program seminars, briefings, and site visits over the past fifteen years to gain extensive, firsthand knowledge about major health issues in the U.S. and internationally.
Additionally, in 2009 the Foundation is launching Kaiser Health News (KHN), a unique and independent news service which represents the next step in Kaiser’s long-standing commitment to excellence in health journalism. All KHN content will be made available on a new Web site, www.kaiserhealthnews.org. KHN will also enter into partnerships with for-profit and non-profit news organizations to jointly produce and publish articles, and to provide content for syndication on important health issues free of charge to news organizations in the U.S. and around the world.
The Kaiser Family Foundation is a non-profit private operating foundation, based in Menlo Park, California, dedicated to producing and communicating the best possible information and policy analysis on health issues.
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