Monday, August 26, 2013

Two-day course at MIT will teach how to write about medical and scientific evidence

The Knight Science Journalism program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is offering an intensive course to help journalists learn how to evaluate scientific and medical evidence. Ten to 12 journalists will be selected to participate in the course on campus in Cambridge. The deadline to apply is Sept. 13, and the course will be held from Dec. 2-3.

The "Medical Evidence" course begins with "an overview of clinical and epidemiological research methods, giving journalists the tools to understand and evaluate medical studies," a release says. "Through lectures and discussions, we’ll look at science’s ways of studying different phenomena, from diseases to oil spills, from DNA to human migration. We’ll offer practical methods for getting the numbers in the news right. We’ll explore how new drugs are tested, and look at how the FDA, the NIH and other agencies evaluate treatments, old and new. We’ll look at the rise of 'evidence-based medicine” and why expensive care may not be good care."

Participants will be reimbursed up to $750 for travel expenses. Most meals will be provided. For more information and an application, click here.

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