Photo via Explore St. Louis
ST. LOUIS — More than 500 people are expected to converge on the Union Station Hotel in St. Louis for AHCJ’s annual Health Journalism conference. The event runs from Thursday, March 9, through midday on Sunday, March 12.
On-site registration is available as are one-day tickets.
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tracy Kidder and Dr. Jim O’Connell, the subject of Kidder’s most recent nonfiction book, “Rough Sleepers: Dr. Jim O’Connell’s urgent Mission to Bring Healing to Homeless People,” are set to keynote Thursday evening’s opening event.
Another featured speaker is former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams who will talk about the lessons the pandemic offers about the state of health care in the nation. The conversation — followed by a Q&A — is scheduled for noon on Friday, guided by AHCJ Executive Director Kelsey Ryan.
Seats are still available for one of two field trips being offered on Thursday — a close look at research innovations at Washington University/BJC and the health care provider’s role in community health in St. Louis. The field trip will also take participants to a neighborhood-based “food as medicine” program that prepares and brings culturally appropriate meals to people with diabetes.
With the support of AHCJ’s generous funders, financial assistance was provided to more than 60 journalists from across the country to attend the conference.
And, as aways, the winners of AHCJ’s Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism will be recognized at a Saturday luncheon, followed by a roundtable discussion, “Malignant misinformation: The quest for a cure.”
The conference’s local hosts are Washington University in St. Louis and BJC HealthCare; and Missouri Foundation for Health. Endowing sponsors are the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.
