MEDICAL EVIDENCE BOOT CAMP FOR JOURNALISTS
Nov. 27 - Dec. 1. 2005
Hosted by MIT’s Knight Science Journalism Fellowships Program
Cambridge, MA

Why do health studies disagree? Are cancer clusters real? Which diets
work best? Which are more convincing: epidemiological studies or
clinical trials? One of the most difficult challenges facing journalists
who cover health is the uncertainty of nearly all medical evidence. Many
studies come to contradictory conclusions, yet the public’s interest in
medical news and the need for reliable health information is growing.
To help journalists make sense of all this, MIT’s Knight Science
Journalism Fellowships program is offering the Medical Evidence Boot
Camp, an intensive course on how to evaluate medical evidence on the MIT
campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Lodging and most meals will be
provided as well as $500 toward travel expenses for successful applicants.

Medical researchers from MIT, Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of
Public Health, the NIH, the FDA and other institutions will teach the
course. They’ll explain how clinical trials are designed and carried out
and why some kinds of studies are more credible than others. They’ll
discuss carcinogenicity and toxicity–why they are so hard to establish
and how to think about alleged clusters of victims. We’ll explore the
politics and ethics of how new drugs are tested, often by the companies
that stand to profit from them. And we’ll look at how the FDA, the NIH
and other agencies evaluate treatments, old and new. Finally, we’ll look
at the rise of a new phenomenon called “evidence-based medicine.”

Confirmed faculty for this year’s program include:
. Julie Buring, professor at the Harvard School of Public Health and
principal investigator of the Women’s Health Study. Scores of
journalists have praised her ability to explain clinical studies and
epidemiology clearly and engagingly.

. Barry Kramer, director of the Office of Medical Applications of
Research at the National Institutes of Health. He is the leader of a
major effort to upgrade the evidentiary basis of NIH’s recommendations
to doctors and patients.

. Jerome Kassirer, former Editor-in-Chief of The New England Journal of
Medicine, author of On The Take: How Medicine’s Complicity with Big
Business Can Endanger Your Health.

. Lisa Schwartz and Steve Woloshin, general internists at the White
River Junction Veterans Affairs Medical Center and associate professors
at Dartmouth Medical School. Their research addresses how best to
communicate quantitative information and how to measure perceptions of
the harms and benefits of treatment.

. Kimberly Thompson, associate professor of risk analysis and decision
science, Harvard School of Public Health. Her research interests focus
on the issues related to developing and applying quantitative methods
for risk assessment and risk management and consideration of the public
policy implications associated with including uncertainty and
variability in risk characterization.

HOW TO APPLY:
All application materials must be received by September 15. Twelve
journalists will be selected to attend Medical Evidence Boot Camp.
Winners will be announced by October 15. If selected, we will reimburse
you for up to $500 of your travel expenses to Cambridge, provide your
accommodation at the Marriott Residence Inn, and provide most meals
during your stay. Medical Evidence Boot Camp begins the evening of
Sunday, November 27, and runs through the afternoon of Thursday,
December 1. Participants are required to attend all sessions.

For more information and to download an application, see our web site:
http://web.mit.edu/knight-science/bootcamps.html

If you have questions, contact Boyce Rensberger, director of the Knight
Science Journalism Fellowships at MIT: 617-258-8249 or boyce@mit.edu
.