Medical Evidence Boot Camp, Fall 2010
One of the most difficult challenges facing journalists is the uncertainty of evidence in science, medicine, energy and environmental studies. Studies are hard to decipher, and sometimes appear to reach contradictory conclusions. But the public’s interest in health and science news, and the need for reliable information, is growing. To help journalists make sense of all this, we offer an intensive course, on how to evaluate scientific and medical evidence. We’ll explore how new drugs are tested, and look at how the FDA, the NIH and other agencies evaluate treatments, old and new. We’ll look at the rise of “evidence-based medicine” and why expensive care may not be good care. (Don’t be surprised to learn that a lot of what doctors do has little or no evidence to prove that it works.)
Schedule and Faculty
| 8:45 - 9:00 |
Welcome and introduction by Philip J. Hilts, Director of the Knight Science Journalism Fellowships at MIT. |
| 9:00 - 10:00 |
 A Guide to Reporting about Medical Research Studies Karin Michels, ScD, PhD, Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School; Ob/Gyn Epidemiology Center, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Her research focuses on epigenetic epidemiology and perinatal risk factors for breast cancer and the role of nutrition in cancer etiology. Before beginning her medical career, she was a science writer in Germany. |
| 10:30 - 12:00 |
 Four Sessions - News and Numbers: the Nuts and Bolts of Medical Research Jennifer M. Croswell, M.D., M.P.H., is a Medical Officer supporting the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. |
| 1:15 - 4:30 |
 Four Sessions - News and Numbers: the Nuts and Bolts of Medical Research (Cont'd) Jennifer M. Croswell, M.D., M.P.H., is a Medical Officer supporting the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. |
| 6:00 |
Dinner for Boot Camp Participants and Knight Fellows |
| 9:00 - 10:15 |
 When is clinical research news? Who tells the public, and how? Drummond Rennie, MD, MACP, FRC,is the Deputy Editor (West), Journal of the American Medical Association , and an adjunct Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. |
| 11:00 - 12:15 |
 FDA: Briefly, What We Do Robert Temple, MD, was recently appointed Deputy Center Director for Clinical Science of FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research and is also Acting Director of the Office of Drug Evaluation I (ODE-I). |
| 2:00 - 3:00 |
 Hard Knocks: Vaccines and the Media Paul A. Offit, MD, is the Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases and the Director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. In addition, Dr. Offit is the Maurice R. Hilleman Professor of Vaccinology and a Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. |
| 3:45 - 5:00 |
 Applying Evidence to Make Improvements in the Real World Amy E. Boutwell, MD, MPP, is the Director of Health Policy Strategy at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, and the co-Principal Investigator for the STAAR Initiative (STate Action on Avoidable Rehospitalizations), a multi-state effort to improve care transitions between settings and thereby reduce avoidable (re)hospitalizations. |
| 9:00 - 12:00 |
 Cancer Screening: the Clash of Intuition and Medical Evidence Barnett (Barry) Kramer, MD, MPH, is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. He serves as Chairman of the Physician Data Query (PDQ) Editorial Board on Screening and Prevention and is a member of the PDQ Treatment Editorial Board. |
| 1:30 - 2:45 |
 "Alternative" Medicine: Hope or Hype? Stephen Barrett, M.D., Author, editor, consumer advocate. Dr. Barrett, a retired psychiatrist who lives near Chapel Hill, North Carolina, has been investigating health frauds and quackery for more than 40 years. He operates Quackwatch and 23 other Web sites intended to help people make intelligent health-related decisions. |
| 3:15 - 4:30 |
 Turning Evidence into a Story Without Misinforming the Audience Dr. Andy Oxman completed his medical training in the USA in 1979 and then moved to Norway where he worked as a general practitioner in northern Norway. From 1984 to 1994 he was at McMaster University in Canada. He moved back to Norway in 1994 and began work at the Health Services Research Unit at the National Institute of Public Health, which subsequent to several redisorganisations is now part of the Norwegian Knowledge Centre for the Health Services. |
| 9:00 - 10:15 |
 Social, Policy, Economic and Practice Implications of Advertizing in Medicine Michael Wilkes, M.D., Ph.D. is Professor of Medicine at the University of California, Davis. He recently stepped down as Vice Dean at the School of Medical and is serving as the Director of Global Health. |
| 10:45 - 12:00 |
 From the Outside Looking in: A Non Journalist’s View of Health Reporting Harold J. DeMonaco is the Director of the Innovation Support Center at the Massachusetts General Hospital. A graduate of the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Sciences he holds a bachelors degree in pharmacy and a masters degree in therapeutics. He formerly served as Director of Drug Therapy Management and the Director of Pharmacy as well as Chair of the Human Research Committee at the MGH. |
| 12:00 - 12:30 |
Q&A/Concluding Comments |
| 12:30 - 1:45 |
Lunch |
| 1:45 |
Adjourn |
People Attending this Bootcamp
|
Sarah Avery
Medical Reporter
,
The News & Observer
|
Laura Chang
|
Daniel Cressey
Reporter
,
Nature
|
|
Katherine Eban
Freelance Journalist
|
April Fulton
Editor
,
NPR
|
Sarah Jones
Staff Writer
,
The Roanoke Times
|
|
Kay Lazar
Health Reporter
,
The Boston Globe
|
Mathew Perrone
Health Writer
,
Associated Press
|
Amy Standen
Reporter
,
Quest Radio KQED
|
|
Les Winerman
Reporter Producer Health
,
PBS Newshour
|
©2010 Knight Science Journalism at MIT. All Rights Reserved.