Medical Evidence Boot Camp
December 1–4, 2009
One of the most difficult challenges facing journalists who cover health is the uncertainty of nearly all medical evidence. Many studies come to contradictory conclusions, yet the public’s interest in medical news and the need for reliable health information is growing.
To help journalists make sense of all this, we offer an intensive course, now in its eighth year, on how to evaluate medical evidence.
Boot Camp begins with an overview of clinical and epidemiological research methods, giving you tools to understand and evaluate medical studies. Through lectures and discussions, we’ll look at science’s increasingly sophisticated ways of studying disease, determining causes and evaluating preventions and treatments.
“I loved it. It renewed my dedication to accuracy and critical thinking in what I cover. I wish it could have lasted longer.”
—Meredith Matthews,
Minnesota Public Radio
We’ll explore the politics and ethics of how new drugs are tested, often by the companies that stand to profit from them. And we’ll look at how the FDA, the NIH and other agencies evaluate treatments, old and new. Finally, we’ll look at the rise of a new phenomenon called “evidence-based medicine.” (Don’t be surprised to learn that a lot of what doctors do has little or no evidence to prove that it works.)
Knight Science Journalism Fellowships boot camps are not designed to generate news, but to give you the background to find the stories before they break and to understand them when they do.
Fellows
A list of the journalists chosen to attend the boot camp can be found here.
Schedule and Faculty |
Tuesday, December 1
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8:30–9:30 |
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Meet the Fellows breakfast
A breakfast and introduction session for the boot camp Fellows, 9-month Knight Fellows and staff, with an introduction to the Boot Camp from Fellowships director Philip J. Hilts |
9:30–12:00 |
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 Epidemiology 101
Julie Buring, Professor of Epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health and Principal Investigator of the Women’s Health Study
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1:15–3:30 |
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Epidemiology 101, continued |
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Wednesday, December 2
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9:00–12:00 |
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 Reporting health risks and medical statistics: A practical guide, Lisa Schwartz and Steve Woloshin, Professors at Dartmouth Medical School who study how the media cover medical news
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1:30–3:00 |
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Reporting Health Risks..., continued |
3:15–4:45 |
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 Should we tax our diet?
David Kessler, former Commissioner of the United States FDA, Professor of Pediatrics and Epidemiology and Biostatistics at UCSF, and author of the recent bestseller, The End of Overeating
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Thursday, December 3
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9:00–12:00 |
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 Pitfalls of cancer screening
Barnett Kramer, Associate Director for Disease Prevention at the National Institutes of Health
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1:30–3:00 |
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 High spending doesn't mean high quality in medicine. Why?
Jonathan Skinner, Dartmouth Economics Department Chair, and Professor of Community and Family Medicine at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice
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3:15–5:00 |
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 A reporter's guide: finding medical information online
Robert Logan, Communications Research Scientist at the National Library of Medicine
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6:00pm |
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Dinner at The Blue Room, Kendall Square |
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Friday, December 4
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9:00–10:30 |
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 Can journalists do better?
Gary Schwitzer, Associate Professor, University of Minnesota School of Journalism & Mass Communication, and Publisher of HealthNewsReview.org
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10:45–12:00 |
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 How conflict of interest impacts medical research and treatment
Jerome Kassirer, editor-in-chief of The New England Journal of Medicine from 1991 to 1999, and author of books including On the Take: How Medicine's Complicity with Big Business Can Endanger Your Health
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2pm |
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Adjourn |
