January 6, 2024
The Journalism & Women Symposium (JAWS), the premier not-for-profit organization dedicated to the professional growth and empowerment of women journalists, has awarded the 2024 JAWS Health Journalism Fellowship to eight new and emerging health reporters who will examine disparities and inequities in U.S. health care.
With critical support from The Commonwealth Fund, the fellowship is in its second year. The goal of the fellowship is to train more journalists in health reporting and help diversify the reporting pool for better and more inclusive reporting on health issues across the nation.
Each fellow will spend the next seven months working on a substantive reporting project, assisted by a reporting grant of $4,000. Additionally, fellows receive a one-year membership to JAWS and registration and travel expenses to the JAWS annual conference.
“We’re thrilled to welcome these eight bright reporters,” JAWS Executive Director Molly Schar said. “This fellowship is one of the most significant ways we invest in mentoring women reporters out there telling important stories. The entire JAWS community will benefit from the contributions of these fellows – our newest JAWS members.”
“I’m excited to continue this important program and help emerging journalists better understand the many nuanced issues of health reporting. It’s so important that we continue to bring evidence-based, scientific rigor to the health beat, and shed light on many underreported issues so prevalent in society,” said fellowship program director and veteran health journalist Liz Seegert.
2024 Health Jounalism Fellows
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Jasmine Aguilera
El Tímpano
A series on the experiences of undocumented Latino and Mayan people living in the San Francisco Bay Area as they navigate the complicated health insurance system and access California’s Medicaid program for the first time.
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Sammy Caiola
Kensington Voice
A series examining sexual assault care in Philadelphia hospitals, including the availability of evidentiary exams and solutions for offering more trauma-informed care to sexual assault survivors, particularly those from Kensington who are unhoused, living with drug addiction and/or engaged in sex work.
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Eleanor Catolico
NY & MI Solutions Journalism Collaborative
A solution-based long-form story examining efforts to increase the number of people of color participating in clinical trials for Alzheimer’s drugs.
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Tamia Fowlkes
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
A long-form story examining why people in Wisconsin have difficulties in accessing assistive mobility technology, such as wheelchair lifts and vans, how those difficulties impact their daily lives, and local legislative pushes to address the problem.
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Jayme Lozano Carver
The Texas Tribune
An in-depth story on women’s health in the Texas Panhandle, particularly the impact of ordinances such as the abortion travel prohibition in Amarillo, which would outlaw the use of Amarillo roads to transport a pregnant person for an abortion in another state.
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Elizabeth Moss
Independent journalist
An in-depth story or podcast examining why most cases of domestic violence strangulation, which are felony offenses in Missouri, are charged on the same level as traffic tickets in Kansas City and never make it to state court.
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Anika Nayak
Independent journalist
A series about the lack of access to contraceptives, gynecological care, and other reproductive health care services in upstate New York, as well as state-wide efforts to bring more services to areas that need them.
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Roxanne Scott
Independent journalist
New York Amsterdam News: A series examining the recurring groundwater flooding in Southeast Queens, including how and why Black people bought houses in the area, why the ecology and development of the region make it susceptible to flooding, and the ensuing health consequences of living in this environment, as well as the long-term financial and medical costs to homeowners of color.goes here
Fellow Bylines
200 survivors of sexual assault, gender-based violence sign letter condemning a second Trump term
11/4/24 – Elizabeth Moss – AfroLA
As Parkinson’s cases rise, clinical trial volunteers hope to help future patients
10/24/24 – Eleanore Catolico – New York & Michigan Solutions Journalism Collaborative
Lingering fears over past immigration policies are fueling a reluctance to enroll in Medi-Cal
9/25/24 – Jasmine Aguilera – El Tímpano
Birth control has become harder to get. New York has some creative solutions
9/4/24 – Anika Nayak – STAT
Chronic illegal dumping highlights health concerns in the Rockaways
8/29/24 – Roxanne Scott – Amsterdam News
How a decades-old domestic violence policy deters Blacks and Latines from seeking medical care
8/15/24 – Elizabeth Moss – AfroLA
These laws seek to simplify the wheelchair repair process in Wisconsin. How do they work?
8/8/24 – Tamia Fowlkes – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
She waited over a year to get her wheelchair. In Wisconsin and elsewhere, that's typical.
8/8/24 – Tamia Fowlkes – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
In the Texas Panhandle, nurses make home visits to new moms in need
7/25/24 – Jayme Lozano Carver – Texas Tribune
Amid a dementia crisis, brain researchers try to recruit Black Americans
7/11/24 – Eleanore Catolico – New York & Michigan Solutions Journalism Collaborative
As a Texas city debates an abortion travel ban, maternal care is scarce in nearby rural counties
6/14/24 — Jayme Lozano Carver — Texas Tribune
A climate change forecast: rain with a chance of mosquito-borne diseases
4/25/24 — Roxanne Scott — Black to Nature
Pennsylvania law to improve sexual assault aftercare landscape remains unfunded
4/10/24 — Sammy Caiola — Kensington Voice
‘Who falls through the cracks?’: Philly’s sexual assault exam system creates barriers for survivors, skirts state rules
4/05/24 — Sammy Caiola — Kensington Voice
California’s expanded health coverage for undocumented immigrants collides with Medicaid checks
3/21/24 — Jasmine Aguilera — El Tímpano
The History That Explains Today’s Shortage of Black Midwives
2/29/24 — Anika Nayak — Time
WA Mental health providers say insurance reimbursement is not enough
12/21/23 - Michelle Baruchman – Seattle Times
What recovery?
12/20/23 - Lygia Navarro - palabra.
University Students Across Chicago Influence Schools To Stock Period Products
12/1/23 - Annabel Rocha - IL Latino News
ENDANGERED: Black doulas fight ‘staggering’ maternal mortality crisis
11/2/23 - Dana James – Black Iowa News
Doctors created a primary care clinic as their former hospital struggled
10/31/23 - Cecilia Nowell - CBS News
ENDANGERED: Hospital systems ‘don’t take our pain seriously,’ say Black Iowans
10/17/23 - Dana James – Black Iowa News
ENDANGERED: Racism in Maternity Care
10/10/23 - Dana James – Black Iowa News
How insurance companies fill their networks with “ghost” therapists
10/3/23 - Michelle Baruchman – Seattle Times
What Access To Period Products Looks Like In Some Schools
9/26/23 - Annabel Rocha - IL Latino News
Families fall deep in debt for mental health care. Why is insurance so spotty?
8/6/23 - Michelle Baruchman – Seattle Times
Tips to navigate insurance denials for mental health conditions
8/6/23 - Michelle Baruchman – Seattle Times
Doctors created a primary care clinic as their former hospital struggled
7/21/23 - Cecilia Nowell - KFF Health News