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Saturday, April 18 — 1:00 PM-3:00 PM Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, Room 239 |
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| Chaired: |
Francis Belloni |
Overview
Join us for a humorous, interesting and fast-paced four-part presentation on what APS and other organizations are doing to connect science, health and the public in the 2.0 era. Among the topics being discussed is the APS Wiki, a member-driven collaborative site that will serve as the basis of our upgrade of the consumer–based site PhysiologyInfo.org. There will be hands-on learning segment to introduce you to the wiki.
Representatives of three external organizations will join Communications Committee Chair Frank Belloni to discuss, among other things, their efforts to make science sensible and interesting for the non-scientist. The outside speakers include broadcast journalist Meg Farris of CBS affiliate Channel 4 in New Orleans, Marin P. Allen, Deputy Associate Director for Communications and Director of Public Information at the National Institutes of Health, and Christie Nicholson, a freelance science journalist, podcast and Internet video series producer and host, and contributing editor at SciAm.com.
About the Speakers
Frank Belloni
Dr. Belloni is the Chair of the APS Communications Committee, which he has led since 2006. Under his direction, the committee has developed and launched the APS podcast series Life Lines (2007). The following year the committee developed plans to revitalize the consumer website, PhysiologyInfo.org, and later that year began development of the APS wiki. He is an active member of APS, having also served as chair of both the Education and Career Opportunities in Physiology committees, as chair of the APS Teaching of Physiology Section, and as a peer reviewer for the American Journal of Physiology and Journal of Applied Physiology.
Dr. Belloni is Professor of Physiology and Dean of the Graduate School of Basic Medical Science at New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York. He was awarded his Ph.D. in physiology from the University of Michigan, did postdoctoral training at the University of Virginia and joined the faculty of NYMC in 1981. His research focused on cardiovascular physiology, particularly the study of the mechanisms of adenosine's effect on vascular tissue. He currently teaches cardiovascular and gastrointestinal physiology, and both medical ethics and research ethics.
Meg Farris
Meg Farris is a broadcast journalist for the high-profile series “Medical Watch” which airs four times per week on WWL-TV, the CBS affiliate (Channel 4) serving New Orleans, southeast Louisiana and parts of southern and coastal Mississippi. Her episodes range from the multi-faceted topics of health care to interviews with nationally known medical and fitness specialists. A graduate of Ole Miss, she is southeast Louisiana’s only reporter dedicated to covering the health and medicine beat.
Her stories are as diverse as health, science, and medicine itself. They range from the moving—where a tiny pair of crocheted slippers, lovingly knitted by a local senior citizens group, helped a mother cope with the loss of her stillborn child—to the miraculous, as when a Vietnamese refugee, totally blinded during the war, saw his post-operative reflection in a hospital mirror for the first time in twenty years. Often as not, the stories also focus on innovative science, including the results of clinical trials being conducted at Tulane and LSU. Each week, Ms. Farris’ stories can generate hundreds of calls from across southeast Louisiana - and sometimes, from all over the U.S.
Marin P. Allen, Ph.D.
Marin P. Allen is the deputy associate director for communications and director of the Public Information Office in the Office of the Director of the National Institutes of Health. Prior to 2004, she was the communications director for the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. Before joining NIH she directed public relations for Gallaudet University where she was also a professor and chair of the Department of Television, Film and Photography in the School of Communication at Gallaudet. She has worked as a media specialist with the White House Conference on Aging and was a faculty member in communications at the University of Maryland, College Park. Among her professional honors are two EMMY awards for programs she produced that aired for five years on the Discovery Channel and PBS. She has a master's degree and Ph.D. from the University of Maryland.
Christie Nicholson
Christie Nicholson is a freelance science journalist based in New York. Prior to becoming a journalist, she worked for nearly a decade as a new media producer, publishing sites for corporate and non-profit companies.
Ms. Nicholson holds a master’s degree from Columbia University’s School of Journalism. At Scientific American online, she developed and launched an online community, and helped launch two video series (Instant Egghead and The Monitor), and two audio podcasts (60-Second Psych and 60-Second Earth). She is a contributing editor at SciAm.com and produces and hosts the weekly podcast, 60-Second Psych. She also co-hosts a weekly science video series, Grand Unified Weekly, on Slate.com. With two fellow journalists, she created and produced the “Science of Sex,” which won a Webby and a People’s Voice award in 2007. She is a faculty member of the Banff Centre for the Arts, teaching new media as part of their Science Communications program.