A message from AHCJ’s new board president

Dear AHCJ members,

I'm honored to be the new board president of AHCJ, and I want to take this opportunity to share my priorities in this challenging time for those of us lucky enough to cover health care.

I've long believed that there's no more important beat in journalism. Our work touches everyone, by giving readers, viewers and listeners critical, evidence-based and unbiased information about illnesses, treatments, public policy and the business of health care. Our role has never been more important than now, when the public has a hard time sorting fact from fiction on social media, in influencers' TikTok videos and politicians' words. And yet, in this polarized world, we're portrayed as peddling falsehoods and face near-constant trolling. Many of you work for news organizations that are cutting back, or you're independent journalists trying to make ends meet. You're pressed for time and crave training, moral support, and community.

That's where AHCJ can help you, as it helped me when I joined 25 years ago. As the lone medical reporter at the Louisville Courier-Journal, I sometimes felt isolated and overwhelmed, struggling to feed the daily news beast while writing in-depth enterprise, and to master the intricacies of a broad swath of topics. Through AHCJ's website, conferences and listserv, I found tip sheets, story ideas, sources, inspiration and friendships. True to its mission, AHCJ helped me become a more skilled journalist.

My agenda for the next two years is to build on the solid foundation to offer even more resources to help you do your jobs, and to expand and diversify our membership. I will work with our exceptional executive director, Kelsey Ryan, AHCJ's terrific staff, and our volunteer board members and committees to:

• Offer more timely webinars and website content to give you the background you need to cover the news as it's happening.
• Expand the mentorship program and strengthen local chapters to provide networking opportunities with colleagues.
• Offer free training in use of artificial intelligence.
• Broaden our membership in terms of geography, race, ethnicity, gender, and media type, with a focus on broadcast and video journalists and people early in their careers. I also want to work with AHCJ Executive Director Kelsey Ryan to explore ways to expand our international membership.
• Advocate on behalf of our members, and work with other journalism groups, to press federal agencies to be responsive to information and FOIA requests and provide access to government scientists and officials.

I welcome your help in carrying out these plans. If you want to get more involved in AHCJ, or have other ideas or suggestions for ways to improve AHCJ's offerings, please message me in the AHCJ Slack community.

Sincerely,

Gideon Gil
STAT Managing Editor
AHCJ Board President