The 2007 Nieman Fellows in Global Health Reporting are David Kohn (United States), medical and science reporter at The Sun, Baltimore, Md.; Harro Albrecht (Germany), medical writer/editor at Die Zeit; and Kondwani Munthali (Malawi), broadcast journalist at Malawi Broadcasting Corporation.
During their Nieman year, these fellows will participate in weekly activities at the Nieman Foundation, pursue a concentrated course of study at Harvard School of Public Health, and have access to faculty and courses across the University through the Harvard Initiative for Global Health.
At the conclusion of their academic year at Harvard, the Nieman Global Health Fellows will begin four months of journalistic field work in a developing country. The field work is intended to provide an intensive learning and reporting experience in countries experiencing the most pressing issues in global health. At the conclusion of their field work, the fellows will be expected to produce work based on this experience and their academic studies. This work could be stories, a case study or a handbook of best practices related to reporting on health in a developing country.
The 2007 Nieman Fellows in Global Health Reporting were selected by Jay Winsten, an associate dean and the Frank Stanton director of the Center for Health Communication at the Harvard School of Public Health; Stefanie Friedhoff, a freelance correspondent and science writer and a 2001 Nieman Fellow; and Bob Giles, Nieman Foundation curator and a 1966 Nieman Fellow.
These are the first Global Health Reporting Fellowships awarded under a three-year, $1.19 million grant to Harvard from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The grant provides for three fellowships each year: one for a citizen of the United States, one for a citizen from a European Union nation and one from a developing nation.
Established in 1938, the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard is the oldest midcareer fellowship for journalists in the world. The fellowships are awarded to working journalists of accomplishment and promise for an academic year of study at the university. More than 1,100 journalists from 77 countries have studied at Harvard as Nieman Fellows. The Nieman Foundation also publishes the quarterly magazine Nieman Reports and is the home of the Nieman Program on Narrative Journalism and the Nieman Watchdog Journalism Project to encourage reporters and editors to monitor and hold accountable those who exert power in all aspects of public life.
The Harvard School of Public Health's mission is to advance the public's health through learning, discovery and communication. The School's Center for Health Communication has helped pioneer the field of mass communication and public health by researching and analyzing the contributions of mass communication to behavior change and policy, by preparing future health leaders to use communication strategies and by strengthening communication between journalists and health professionals.
Harvard School of Public Health is dedicated to advancing the public's health through learning, discovery, and communication. More than 300 faculty members are engaged in teaching and training the 900-plus student body in a broad spectrum of disciplines crucial to the health and well being of individuals and populations around the world. Programs and projects range from the molecular biology of AIDS vaccines to the epidemiology of cancer; from risk analysis to violence prevention; from maternal and children's health to quality of care measurement; from health care management to international health and human rights. For more information on the school visit: www.hsph.harvard.edu