Membership
Philadelphia Chapter
Want to get involved in the chapter? Contact Eric Rosenthal at etrosenthal@verizon.net or 610-649-1375.
Upcoming events
Philly Chapter AHCJ Meeting Jan 25 at Drexel
The Philadelphia chapter of Association of Health Care Journalists will hold an open meeting on Jan. 25 at the Drexel University College of Medicine. This is an opportunity for journalists to meet some major figures at Drexel and delve into the worlds of surgery, drug development, electronic medical records and the new health bill that Congress is poised to pass.
The session is designed to focus on Drexel faculty who will be making news in the next year. Speakers will get about 15-20 minutes. So reporters can get a taste of many subjects and follow up later. You don't have to be an AHCJ member to attend.
The meeting is set for 4-6 p.m. at Drexel's Geary Auditorium, New College Building, Auditorium B (245 N. 15th Street). Free parking will be available across 15th Street. (Details to come.) Ideas and suggestions are welcome. Just e-mail Karl Stark at kstark@phillynews.com.
A preliminary list of speakers:
Richard V. Homan, M.D., Annenberg Dean & Senior Vice President for Health Affairs, Drexel University College of Medicine
2nd Speaker TBA (expert on health bill and its far-reaching effects)
Topics: Health bill (finances, uninsured), Changes/Trends in the Medical Care Workforce, Need for residency slots to create more doctors.
Paul Curcillo, M.D., Associate Professor & Vice Chair, Department of Surgery
Topic: Future Trends in Minimally Invasive Surgery - How small can we go?
Carol Lippa, M.D., Professor, Department of Neurology & Director, Memory Disorders Center
Topic: Alzheimer's Disease - New Statistics and New Hope
James Barrett, Ph.D., Professor & Chair, Department of Pharmacology & Physiology
Topic: New Drug Development - What changes in Pharma mean for research
Edgar Chou, M.D., Assistant Professor, Division of Internal Medicine & Clinical Informatics Chief
Topic: Electronic Health Records: Drexel's innovative system
To make suggestions for future meetings, contact Eric Rosenthal at etrosenthal@verizon.net.
Media Briefing: Anticipating Tomorrow's Cancer Treatments
July 27 at Fox Chase Cancer Center
This three-hour event is open to all AHCJ members. It's planned as a fast-moving summary of the institution's highlights. Most presenters will speak for 15 minutes. The subjects will range from trends in personalized medicine and women's cancer to advances in radiation oncology and robotic surgery. Fox Chase maintains these researchers are all likely to make news in the next 12 months. There's no guarantee, of course.
The program includes lunch which reporters can purchase. See a full schedule. If you go, RSVP to Karl Starl (kstark@phillynews.com) or Fox Chase's Frank Hoke at frank.hoke@mac.comPhiladelphia chapter meets with OncoLink
Despite icy weather, about 20 AHCJ members, journalism students and educators, and other health care journalists ventured out Jan. 6 to learn about the University of Pennsylvania Abramson Cancer Center's OncoLink – the oldest and largest cancer information resource on the Internet, according to its editor-in-chief, James Metz, M.D.
Metz, a radiation oncologist on Penn's faculty, and Maggie Hampshire, R.N., B.S.N., O.C.N., an oncology nurse who is the site's managing editor, said that OncoLink was founded in 1994 by cancer specialists at Penn to help provide cancer patients and their families as well as health care professionals and the public with accurate and free cancer-related information.
Produced by Penn physicians and nurses and updated daily, the resource offers comprehensive information about different cancers, treatments, and research advances, as well as a program that allows cancer survivors to create individualized plans for their follow-up care.
This was the third program presented by AHCJ's Philadelphia chapter, which was formed in mid-2008. Previously, members met with Sir Ian Wilmut, who led the team that cloned Dolly the sheep in 1996, and attended a workshop on health care reporting led by Gary Schwitzer.
Virtual attendees take part in workshop
About 30 people gathered at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia on Nov. 17, while about 20 others joined the meeting online, to hear Gary Schwitzer and his HealthNewsReview.org colleague Kathleen Fairfield, M.D., Dr.P.H. discuss the Web site's health news coverage project .
The workshop was the third one presented to AHCJ chapters, following road trips to Chicago and San Francisco.
Schwitzer and Fairfield, one of the project's medical editors, shared data on how news organizations have performed on 10 criteria for accurate, balanced and complete coverage; reflected on trends observed in the coverage of health care news; and provided tips about evaluating claims made about new health care treatments, tests, products and procedures.
June 12, 7:30 p.m.
Sir Ian Wilmut, director of MRC Center for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Edinburgh, who is perhaps best known for leading the team that cloned Dolly the sheep in 1996, will meet with the Association of Health Care Journalists’ Philadelphia chapter Thursday, June 12, at 7:30 p.m. at the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Sir Ian will be in Philadelphia for the International Society for Stem Cell Research meeting.
For further information, contact Eric Rosenthal, 610-649-1375 or etrosenthal@verizon.net.
Plans in the works for newly formed Philadelphia chapter
The Association of Health Care Journalists' newly formed Philadelphia chapter held a preliminary organizational meeting on May 1 at The Philadelphia Inquirer, hosted by Karl Stark, AHCJ board member and treasurer.
In addition to Stark, others attending were writer Nicole Nader Gabor; freelancer Deborah Stern Silver; Inquirer public health reporter John Sullivan, Scientist associate editors Alla Katsnelson and Edyta Zielinska; Dan Keller of Keller Broadcasting and Eric Rosenthal, Oncology Times special correspondent.
The group is looking for other area AHCJ members to increase its critical mass, provide stimulating suggestions for speakers and venues, and contribute to journalistic collegiality in the greater-Philadelphia region.
We hope to hold our first event in June or July, and want to know about your interest in joining us and what you would like to see planned.
Some early suggestions include a leading autism researcher and clinician; a Penn MD who does studies on meditation; experts who can describe major trends in cancer, heart disease, diabetes or other areas; an experienced medical school librarian who can suggest new ways to do research, and discussions regarding public health priorities.
For more information, please contact Eric Rosenthal at etrosenthal@verizon.net or 610-649-1375.