Tuesday, November 23, 2021
Key Contacts For Experts Studying Health Issues In Canada
In November, our ongoing journalist profile series focuses on Canadian reporters covering health and Covid-19. They will be key contacts for experts studying health issues in Canada.
Avis Favaro - CTV News
Avis Favaro is CTV’s medical correspondent.
1. Recently her work has focused heavily on Covid in Canada. More broadly, she is interested in “stories that … inform Canadians about problems, potential solutions and the latest science in how they help themselves live longer healthier lives.”
2. She has a long history of achievement in medical journalism and is CTV’s longest-serving on-air medical correspondent. She has been nominated for 13 Gemini awards.
3. In her Covid reporting, she is interested in what she calls “solution stories,” which bring hope and actionable information to her audience. She cited as an example a story about Ontario’s air ambulance system adopting a new approach to move Covid patients from overcrowded ICUs to less crowded ones.
Andrea Woo - The Globe and Mail
Andrea Woo is a health reporter at The Globe and Mail.
1. Her key areas of interest are substance use, mental health, drug policy, and Covid.
2. Her most recent work has focused on Covid and medical institutes, drug policy, and cancer.
3. She has a wide range of interests outside her main beat; in the past, she has focused her reporting on topics including music and investigative pieces. She occasionally does breaking news work and covers other science topics such as climate change.
Laura Vogel - CMAJ News
Laura Vogel is the news editor at the Canadian Medical Association Journal, as well as a past contributor to CBC Radio, the Walrus, and UofTMed Magazine.
1. Her recent work has focused primarily on Covid and Canada’s health system.
2. In an interview, she explained that she is most interested in research with specific, concrete implications for her readers. She says she asks, “How does this affect people’s bottom line, their health, their families? It’s very concrete. … If there isn’t a long-term goal for making concrete impact in the world, you maybe want to rethink your approach. You’re maybe not doing meaningful research at that point.”
3. She prefers for her stories to have a clear human component. “You don’t want a press release at the end of the day, you want a story,” she said. “I will report on something that has people at its heart. I will not necessarily report on something that’s just a cold statistic.”
Best,
Jessica
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