The Connection is the newsletter of the Science and Medical Journalism Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Hussman School of Journalism and Media.

National Association of Science Writers conference takes place in Raleigh

By Dan Lane

The National Association of Science Writers is hosting its annual meeting Oct. 26 to 30 at the Raleigh Convention Center.

Meeting organizers expected more than 400 attendees from around the world, including students in Dr. Tom Linden’s medical journalism class. The conference is sponsored jointly by UNC – Chapel Hill, Duke University, NC State University and UNC – Charlotte.  

The conference has not been held in the Triangle since Duke hosted it in 1995, said Karl Leif Bates, director of research communications at Duke University and member of the advisory board for the UNC Science and Medical Journalism Program.  

“Most of the time the conference is held by a single university,” Bates said, “but the story here is the whole Triangle.” He described the Triangle as one “giant university” where each school has its own strengths to help enrich the character of the whole.   

As part of that message, the conference planned day trips to marine labs operated by Duke, UNC and NC State in Beaufort and lab tours on all three campuses.

The capstone tour is a trip to Kannapolis’s North Carolina Research Center. The Center was built on the site of an abandoned cotton mill that had been transformed into a hub for biotechnology research. Bates said he hopes that this transformation will hammer home how the Triangle has grown and changed.

After the two-day NASW conference, the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing scheduled their “New Horizons” lectures, in which leading scientists from the Triangle and around the country present their latest research to science writers and communicators.  

“It’s like a series of Ted Talks where the Q&A is always great,” Bates said. “All of the presenters are researching what we think is about to break big,” Bates said, adding that the audience will ask questions at any level, making for a very interesting discussion.

CASW speakers included Greg Ray, a Duke geneticist from Duke discussing the ENCODE program, which aims to map out the non-coding sequences of DNA, and Steve Wing, a UNC public health researcher talking about the environmental impacts of hog farming. Other presentations cover areas from astronomy, to medicine, to alternative energy, to dark matter.  

The Science Communicators of North Carolina also planned a big presence at the conference. As part of the conference, they will host a Halloween Party on Oct. 28 to help promote their group.

Bates, who helped bring the conference to the Triangle, said he is hopeful that the conference will leave a very positive impression of scientific work being done in the Triangle area. “We have great science and great science communicators,” Bates said.  “This is an amazing year for the Triangle.”

A conversation with... Dr. Nortin Hadler

Nortin M. Hadler, M.D., is a professor of medicine at the UNC School of Medicine and an attending rheumatologist at UNC Hospitals. He is also a health commentator for ABC News and an author of several books on modern medicine. He recently received the Prix Prescrire Award from the independent health journal Prescrire for his book, “Stabbed in the Back” which discusses overtreatment of chronic back pain. His new book, “Citizen Patient,” to be released in January, deals with funding and policy issues in modern medicine. Dr. Hadler is a member of the advisory board for the Science and Medical Journalism Program in the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media. He spoke with Dan Lane over the phone to answer questions about his work. A condensed version of that conversation follows.

Q: So your career began in medicine. How did you become interested in writing?

A: I came to a point in my practice where I reached a moment of conscience, almost crisis. The way that I teach and think and write had diverged from the direction of modern medicine. I looked into the political arena, but I’m not much of a politician. I’m too outspoken. I decided to do what I do best: teach. Through my writing I could teach about modern demands that we empower the patient. I try to teach that a physician should become a navigator, and that patients should know to ask questions of their physicians. Questions like “How do you know that?” and “Will this really help me?”

Q: So are those questions and the direction of medical care that your series of books set out to address?

A: There are two major categories of issues that the books investigate. The first is medicalization. We need sufficient science to sort out simple predicaments from those that require medical intervention. Heartburn and back pain are two examples. A large part of the message is to help people sort out whether what they are experiencing is an illness. The other category is type two medical malpractice — when we do the unnecessary even if it is done really well. This topic speaks to how much we do to the American patient, when there is no science behind the need. None of the books I have published so far mention money and policy, however.

Q: Are money and policy the topic of your new book?

A: Yes. The United States spends two to three times what Canada and European countries spend per capita on healthcare and the health care outcomes are atrocious. The book also examines what is going on with pharmaceutical companies. Like many of my books, it is not written for entertainment value. My books generally contain 500 to 1,000 references and are written on the level for a reader of The New Yorker. Agents come after me because of the style, but I try to write as a serious educator.

Q: One of your books recently received the Prix Prescrire award in France. What does that accomplishment mean to you?

A: It is an honor, but I try to keep myself low profile. My ideas should be the issue that is brought to the forefront by my books, not me.

Q: What sort of advice would you give to science and medical writers looking to publish their own long-form work?

A: No shortcuts. It is very important to read the primary sources beyond the abstracts. They can act as marketing even though there may be nothing to sell. Unfortunately the schedules of most journalists do not always allow that kind of preparation, but hopefully as a country, we will allow those who intend to publish enough time to prepare in that way.

UNC news lab starts STEM news project

By Dan Lane

UNC’s Reese News Lab is beginning a year-long project to report on President Barack Obama’s initiative to train 100,000 new science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) teachers in the next 10 years. 

Stories about STEM projects will appear on STEMwire.org. The Reese News site is financed by a one-year $50,000 award from Carnegie Corporation of New York.

UNC journalism students will examine demand in North Carolina for both STEM teachers and STEM-trained personnel, according to John Clark, executive director of Reese News. 

Beyond reporting, Reese News will look at the STEM initiative from a research perspective. Questions to be examined include what methods or content is used to call consumers of their information to action and how people’s behavior is influenced by the content on the Reese News website.

“We’re looking nationally,” Clark said. “We at least want to get a national perspective on local stories.”

Clark cited several possible North Carolina stories including a STEM-dedicated school in Wilmington, N.C., and its impact on companies in Research Triangle Park and geographic disparities in STEM education.

The Reese initiative launched in late September with four pieces of content and a Twitter party. Clark said additional stories will be added “every week or so” through July 2013.

Among the stories published was “Supply and Demand Mismatch Leaves STEM Jobs Unfilled,” co-written by medical journalism students Natalie Taylor and Courtni Kopietz, and Julia Wall. The story reported on the difficulty in North Carolina in filling STEM-related jobs.

At the same time opportunities for these professionals have grown more quickly than those in other fields.