About

Covering Health is a blog maintained by the Association of Health Care Journalists. It is intended to help keep journalists who report on health and health care issues informed about the latest news in the field, aware of noteworthy stories and reports, and able to connect with colleagues.

The Association of Health Care Journalists is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing public understanding of health care issues. Its mission is to improve the quality, accuracy and visibility of health care reporting, writing and editing. There are more than 1,100 members of AHCJ.

Along with its 501(c)3 educational arm - The Center for Excellence in Health Care Journalism - AHCJ offers training opportunities, fellowships, publications and Web resources for reporters covering all aspects of health care journalism, including medical research, public policy, consumer health, health law, clinical health, public health, ethics and the business of health care.

Staff

Covering Health is produced by a group of contributing editors/moderators:

Pia Christensen, managing editor/online services, AHCJ
Christensen manages the content and development of healthjournalism.org and oversaw the site’s recent redesign. She also assists with the editing and production of AHCJ’s publications, including books, conference programs and the quarterly newsletter. She previously was publications coordinator for Investigative Reporters and Editors, where she oversaw Web site content, edited IRE publications and assisted advertisers. She worked as a copy editor and an interactive producer at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, a producer for Tribune Interactive, a sports copy editor for the Marin (Calif.) Independent Journal, and was job and internship coordinator at the Center for Integration and Improvement of Journalism in San Francisco. She telecommutes from Oklahoma.

Andrew Van Dam, web producer, AHCJ
Van Dam is a graduate student at the Missouri School of Journalism where he studies reporting, both through text and through new media, infographics and design. He previously reported for the Idaho Press-Tribune in Nampa, Idaho.

Chelsea Reynolds, Graduate Research Assistant
Reynolds, a graduate student in the Missouri School of Journalism, has worked as an editorial assistant or intern at several national health and lifestyle magazines. She has an undergraduate degree from Iowa State University.

Jeff Porter, special projects director, AHCJ
Porter became AHCJ special projects director in 2008 after serving six years as the database library director for Investigative Reporters and Editors and the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting. In that position, he conducted and directed data analysis for broadcast and print investigative projects, served as lead instructor for computer-assisted reporting boot camps, and provided journalism training across the United States and overseas. He also has served as a CAR instructor at the Missouri School of Journalism. Previously, he worked 20 years as an award-winning newspaper journalist, served as adjunct college faculty, and co-created and hosted a weekly radio program. His last newspaper job was at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, where he served as CAR specialist, combining traditional investigative reporting techniques with advanced data analysis tools.

Len Bruzzese, executive director, AHCJ
Bruzzese is the executive director of AHCJ and its Center for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. He is also an associate professor at the Missouri School of Journalism and serves on the executive committee of the Council of National Journalism Organizations. Bruzzese, a founding staff member of USA Today, spent 20 years in daily journalism before entering the nonprofit and academic worlds. He served as deputy director of Investigative Reporters and Editors and the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting for seven years before helping base AHCJ at Missouri in 2005. He is co-author of “The Investigative Reporter’s Handbook,” (fourth edition), and has edited 11 reporter beat books focused on different reporting topics of use to daily journalists. He has won several newspaper and magazine editing awards and was named Outstanding Alumnus in Journalism by the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Bruzzese’s journalism career included writing, editing and management stints at USA Today, The Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, Miss.), the Pensacola News Journal and Gannett News Service (Washington, D.C.). His final daily newspaper position was as editor of The Olympian in Olympia, Wash.

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