Position Opening: Health Communication Specialist

This came through the NCA Health Communication Division mailing list, so I figured I would post it here, too...

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in Cincinnati, Ohio has an opening for a Health Communication Specialist to serve as the Branch Chief for the Information Resources Branch in the Education and Information Division (EID). The Information Resources Branch is responsible for the coordination of the NIOSH Web site, exhibit program, bibliographic database, publication distribution, and other channels of information dissemination. The employee will serve as a senior expert responsible for leading the planning, implementation, and evaluation of complex occupational safety and health communication programs. The employee will manage a Branch with approximately 20 professional and support staff. The position is rated as a GS-14.

Duties include:

• Develop, implement, and evaluate national and international communication and marketing programs, projects, and strategies for professional and lay audiences (e.g., employers, organizations, and workers).
• Direct the development, testing, and timely dissemination of science- and audience-based products, tools, and messages to different audiences in a variety of formats (i.e., print, video, Web, exhibits).
• Provide expert consultation and technical expertise in the creation of strategic and integrated plans for occupational safety and health communication and marketing programs, campaigns, and activities.
• As part of the EID management team, ensure that the organization’s strategic plan, mission, and values are integrated into the occupational safety and health communication or marketing strategies, goals, objectives, and work products.
• Serve as a liaison between NIOSH and other CDC communication and marketing staff on agency-wide issues and networks with a variety of external stakeholders.

For further information, please contact Andrea Okun, Deputy Director, Education and Information Division, NIOSH at AOkun@cdc.gov or (513) 533-8377.

"National" and "Universal" Healthcare?

I'm a big fan of NPR's On The Media, and this week's episode included a couple interesting health-related stories that are worth listening to.

Unhealty Reporting features a conversation with a Columbia Journalism Review editor discussing the mainstream media's relatively poor reporting of the health plans in the current election. One of the more telling points she makes is that the media is able to get away with this largely because most Americans simply don't care to hear the full details of either candidate's plan.

I Am Whatever You Say I Am includes a discussion of media coverage of genetics and genomics. It seems quite likely that this is going to become another big issue in terms of how the media could/should be reporting on developments in genetics research. And as someone teaching in an advertising department, I also think it will be quite interesting to see how mass media advertising of genetic testing products evolves over time...

On the Media is almost always a great show, but this particular episode had a strong focus on health - always a pleasant surprise.

NPR: Health Care for All

NPR has a great series starting called Health Care for All, which is going to involve in-depth looks at how five different European countries manage their healthcare systems. I just finished listening to the episode about Germany, which was very interesting. Their system has been working for over 100 years, so at the very least it seems to be a model that has some history behind it.

Stay tuned to NPR for more episodes as they come out in the next few weeks, these shows could provide some interesting context and topics for the debate about healthcare reform in the U.S.

The Power of Personal Health Records

I got an e-mail from RWJ today about a new series of podcasts coming out about the power of Personal Health Records (PHRs). This is a four-part series, with one new podcast coming each week. I've already downloaded Part 1, which I suspect I'll be listening to tomorrow at some point. The RWJ website has a page on The Power of PHRs has more information.

Third Biennial NCA Preconference in Health Communication

This came through the e-mail list for NCA Health Communication members...


Every other year, the Health Communication Division hosts a preconference session for doctoral and early career professionals. This is one of those years! Please consider registering for the preconference and inviting your students and interested colleagues to participate as well. It is a great way for emerging scholars to meet the people whose work has influenced them and to get advice on job hunting, research, teaching, funding, inter- and cross-disciplinary collaboration, and more.

Doctoral/Early Career Preconference in Health Communication
(PC09 in Conference Registration)
8:15 am-4:30 pm
Thursday, November 20, 2008
San Diego

This year, participants will have the opportunity to meet the following scholars and editors: Dan O'Hair, Rajiv Rimal, Eileen Berlin Ray, Austin Babrow, Carma Bylund, Teresa Thompson, Gary Kreps, Jon Nussbaum, Elissa Foster, Jay Baglia, Rebecca Cline, David Buller, Linda Bathgate, Ashley Duggan, CJ Koenig, Dale Brashers, Elaine Hsieh, Jim Query, and more.

Sign up via the NCA website when you register for the conference. Cost to take part in the preconference is $50.

For more information, contact preconference co-chairs Athena du Pré or Evelyn Y. Ho.

TED: Dean Ornish

This talk just popped up via a TED podcast, and I thought it was an interesting and quick view of how behaviors can impact genetics. The TED description of the talk:

Dean Ornish shares new research that shows how adopting healthy lifestyle habits can affect a person at a genetic level. For instance, he says, when you live healthier, eat better, exercise, and love more, your brain cells actually increase.

This talk is short, so if you're looking for more Dean Ornish here is an older talk from TED.