Media Panel – “Science in the Media: How to Turn Your Research into Headlines”

A panel discussion with representatives of The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, Bloomberg News and WCVB-TV

Do you ever glance at the front page of the daily newspaper or hear a teaser for the evening news and wonder why some research findings get heralded while others are passed over? Join our media panel at Brigham and Women’s Hospital Research Day to hear directly from the editors, reporters and producers who decide what stories get into print and on the air. Ron Winslow, deputy bureau chief for health and science at The Wall Street Journal; Gideon Gil, health and science editor at The Boston Globe; John Lauerman, a reporter at Bloomberg News who covers science, medicine and education; and Jennifer Berryman, executive editor and producer at Boston’s ABC affiliate, WCVB-TV, will participate in a panel discussion and share their perspectives on what makes science newsworthy and the challenges they face in giving research top billing. Find out how to use the power of the news media to publicize your research findings to gain recognition for your team, attract potential donors and share important public health messages. Learn what it takes to make the cut in a newsroom in this discussion moderated by Erin McDonough, Senior Vice President of Communication & Public Affairs at BWH. Questions from the audience will be welcome.

As part of the media panel, BWH researchers will have the opportunity to “power pitch,” their research in a 1-2 minute elevator speech that focuses on their work, why it is news and the potential impact it has for patients or future research. If you’re interested in giving a power pitch at the media panel, please contact Lori Schroth at ljschroth@partners.org to discuss further.

Bios

Jennifer Berryman is the Executive Editor and Executive Producer for Special Projects at WCVB, Channel 5. Her news team has won multiple awards, including the best local news station in America 2012 Edward R. Murrow Overall Excellence award. In 2009, Berryman was honored with a Health Coverage Fellowship sponsored by the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation.

Gideon Gil has been the health and science editor of The Boston Globe since 2003. His staff has won numerous national awards, including the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for explanatory journalism. He previously was a medical reporter and editor at The Courier-Journal in Louisville, Ky. He studied biochemistry at Harvard College and journalism at Columbia University.

John Lauerman joined Bloomberg News in 2002 and covers higher education. As a health reporter for Bloomberg, he won a 2009 award from the Society of the Silurians for his stories on the failed search for a vaccine against HIV. His team won a 2005 award from the Society of American Business Writers and Editors for coverage of Merck & Co.’s withdrawal of the painkiller Vioxx after it was linked to heart disease. He has been a fellow of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Health Coverage program and the Kaiser Family Foundation’s program for science journalists. Before coming to Bloomberg, Lauerman was a science writer at Harvard Medical School, a freelance journalist for 12 years, wrote a health column for Harvard Magazine, and edited the public health journal “Health and Human Rights.”

Erin McDonough joined BWH and Faulkner hospitals as senior vice president of Communication and Public Affairs in June 2010. McDonough provides strategic leadership in developing and implementing internal and external communications, working closely with the hospital leadership and staff, the BW/F board, the media, community leaders and other academic organizations in support of the hospital’s mission of patient care, teaching, research and community health.

Ron Winslow is deputy editor, health and science and a senior medical and health care writer for the Wall Street Journal. In the past 16 years, he has written more than 1,000 articles describing new medical and health care research and chronicling the economic forces transforming the nation’s health care system. He received the Howard Lewis Award for career achievement from the American Heart Association in 2003 and his work has been honored by the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill and other groups. He is a member of the National Association of Science Writers, and was a founding board member of the Association of Health Care Journalists.