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Grady College wins chair in health, medical journalism |
| By Sallie Barker |
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| The Grady College of
Journalism and Mass Communication has won a major endowment grant
to create an innovative Knight Chair in Health and Medical Journalism. The grant will allow the college to develop and teach undergraduate and master’s courses in health and medical journalism and create an outreach program aimed at improving the flow of health news to the Southern Black Belt, a rural strip of more than 600 counties winding through 11 states, home to a third of the nation’s 34.6 million poor. Trustees of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation awarded the $1.5 million chair to UGA at their June board meeting. The university has pledged $1.9 million to support the chair. “To live as long as they might, Americans need access to the best health news and information,” says Eric Newton, director of journalism initiatives at the Knight -Foundation. With the Knight endowment, the Grady College will hire a working journalist who will be a tenured classroom innovator and news industry leader in health and medical journalism. “The Knight Chair in Health and Medical Journalism is a magnificent contribution to journalism and mass communication education for Georgia students and journalists across the country,” says President Michael F. Adams. “This will add immeasurably to the already strong health communication program at the Grady College and to UGA’s commitment to improving the health of all Georgians.” Journalism plays an essential role in fostering public health by warning of health threats, reporting research findings, monitoring public health agencies and explaining health policies, according to Adams. John Soloski, dean of the college, says the Knight Professor will improve public health by strengthening communication between health professionals, journalists and the public. “The need for accurate, understandable health information is particularly acute in the consistently impoverished counties in the Southern Black Belt,” Soloski says. “The Knight Chair will help healthcare professionals improve their communication to the public by communicating better with journalists.” The holder of the Knight Chair will partner with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Medical College of Georgia, the Morehouse School of Medicine, Emory University and other institutions to develop programs to improve media coverage of health issues. The college will begin its search for the Knight Professor in January 2005. |
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