Medical reporting symposium to bring leading journalists to UNC-CH

NEWS For immediate use
Oct. 6, 1997

Contact: Tom Linden, M.D. 919-962-4078

Medical reporting symposium to bring leading journalists to UNC-CH

CHAPEL HILL, NC -- Some of the nation's leading medical reporters will
speak at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Nov. 14-15 in a
symposium for working medical journalists and medical communications
specialists.

The 1997 Medical News Reporting Symposium, sponsored by the UNC-CH
School of Journalism and Mass Communication and School of Public Health, is
the first event of the journalism school's new medical journalism program.

Medical journalists from all media backgrounds -- newspapers, radio, TV
and cyberspace -- can benefit from the symposium, said conference
organizer Tom Linden, M.D., Glaxo Wellcome Distinguished Professor of
Medical Journalism at UNC-CH.

Speakers include George Strait, ABC News' medical correspondent; Joe and
Teresa Graedon, hosts of the syndicated radio show "The People's Pharmacy"
and the book by the same name; Victor Cohn, former Washington Post medical
reporter and the author of "News & Numbers," a journalism text for
interpreting medical statistics; Leslie Lang, medical journalist for
Reuters Health Information Services and former medical editor of Med/NIWS,
a nationally syndicated television news service; Graham Dower,
editor/writer on USA Today's editorial board; Russell Harris, M.D.,
assistant professor of medicine and co-director of health promotion at the
UNC-CH School of Medicine; and Carol Krucoff, freelance medical journalist,
founding editor of the Health section of the Washington Post, and a weekly
columnist for the Washington Post.

Linden said the symposium will give participants insight into preparing
and writing medical news. "My hope is that the diversity of speakers will
provide a healthy perspective for anyone interested in learning more about
the job of medical reporting,≤ Linden said.

Linden has served on the faculty of the American Medical Association's
Health Reporting Conference for six years. He is also president of the
National Association of Physician Broadcasters.

He can be reached at (919) 962-4078 or [email protected].

A participant may register for the symposium by sending a $125 check
payable to the UNC-CH School of Journalism and Mass Communication by Oct.
15. After Oct. 15, registration is $150. Checks can be mailed to:

1997 Medical News Reporting Symposium
UNC-CH School of Journalism and Mass Communication
Campus Box 3365
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3365.

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