Health Reporter

Book Reviews: Due Feb 18

Three news stories based on research published in medical journals:

Feb 25, March 11, March 18 ( length 400-500 wds)

Feature story: Due May 1 ( 750-1,000 words). Paragraph pitching your story due March 1

Here is the schedule of guest lectures and field trips for the class:

March 7, Ee Lyn Tan, Asia Health Reporter for Reuters, will talk to us about her work during the regular class time.

March 11 ( Friday) we will visit the HKU-Pasteur Research Centre on Sassoon Road to look at the medical research work they do. This will be in the afternoon from 2p.m. till about 4 p.m.

March 14 : Instead of our regular class, I will meet students individually in my office between 9.30 and 12.30.

March 25 ( Friday) we will visit the Community Medical Centre at Ap Lei Chau from 2 p.m.- 4 p.m.

March 28 Dr Grainne Mc Alonan from the Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine will talk to us during the regular class time about autism.

I like to set early deadlines, so that you finish your course work as early as possible in the semester, before the end semester rush begins. Here is the first of your deadlines: you will need to read and review one book on a health or medical subject written for a general audience, and turn it in by Friday, February 18.  You will find a list of suggested books in the page on the right. These are well, written, easy to read examples of how you can write about medicine and science for a general audience. They are all available in the library, so I suggest you get to work on reading one of them. The book report should be about 750 words long. I will give you more details in class.

Welcome to the website for JMSC 6090, Reporting Health and Medicine. You will find the course schedule, reading materials,  websites, as well as course updates. This is going to be a demanding, but exciting 12 week journey through the world of health and medical reporting, one of the fastest growing areas in journalism.  We will learn to read papers in medical journals and evaluate different sources of news, learn to ask the right questions at press conferences, visit public health facilities and research institutes and listen to guest lecturers. Above all, we will learn to filter out the  hype and commercialisation that often accompanies health and medical journalism, and provide honest,useful information to the public.