Helen Branswell

Last updated
Helen Branswell
Nationality Canada
Education St. Thomas University
OccupationJournalist
Years active1986-present
Known forHealth, Infectious Disease and Pandemic Journalism

Helen Branswell is a Canadian infectious diseases and global health reporter at Stat News. [1] Branswell spent fifteen years as a medical reporter at The Canadian Press, where she led coverage of the Ebola, Zika, SARS and swine flu pandemics. [2] She joined Stat News at its founding 2015, leading the website's coverage of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. [3]

Contents

Early life and education

Branswell is from Canada and has family in Ottawa. [4] [5] In 1978, Branswell received a B.A. in English literature the St. Thomas University in New Brunswick, Canada. When asked how she wound up in journalism she replied: "I fell into journalism, I was not somebody who had worked at a high school newspaper or college newspaper or anything. I just didn’t know what to do after getting a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature. And somebody said, “What can you do?” And I said, “I think I can write.” And so, I started freelancing for the local paper in the small town I lived in at the time in Eastern Canada at $15 a story. And the rest is history, but with a lot of moves and a lot of different opportunities along the way." [1]

Career

Branswell joined The Canadian Press in 1986, where she served as London correspondent for five years. She started out in general news, working as a political reporter and foreign correspondent. [4] She switched to medical reporting in 2000, and became well known for her coverage of global health outbreaks, starting with the first 2002–2004 SARS outbreak where she reported "on the only real outbreak outside of Asia." [4] [6] Branswell led the coverage of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Ebola, [7] [8] Avian influenza, Zika, Middle East respiratory syndrome and swine flu pandemics. [9] In 2004 Branswell was a Knight Fellow at the Centers for Disease Control. [10]

In 2011 Branswell was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. [11] [12] Here she concentrated on Polio eradication, with a focus on how India is fighting the spread of poliovirus. [13] [14] During an interview with the Nieman Foundation for Journalism, Branswell provided an overview of her experience on reporting during pandemics. [15] This report included advice on which stories to cover and which not cover, how to identify reliable sources and how to prepare for interviews with researchers. [15] The Canadian Press did not have a large budget and Branswell wrote most of her articles from her office or home. [15]

In 2015 Branswell left The Canadian Press to join Stat News, [16] [3] a health news website which had launched that year. Branswell is a popular science communicator; she was often recommended as an important health journalist to follow on Twitter during the COVID-19 pandemic. [17] [18] [19] She was selected as a Harvard Medical School media fellow in 2019. [20]

Coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic

Branswell led the Stat News reporting on the coronavirus pandemic. She first started sharing concerns about the emerging outbreak on December 31, 2019. [21] [22] Branswell had read a ProMED-mail posting that described an unexplained pneumonia in Wuhan, which concerned her because of its similarities to SARS. [21] Two days later, in early January 2020, Branswell tweeted, “Not liking the look of this”. [22] By January 4 Branswell had written her first article on SARS-CoV-2 for Stat News, predicting that it could be "a new coronavirus". [22]

Branswell used her Twitter feed to discuss recent developments as well as debunking misinformation. She remarked that, for the scientific community, this virus was different to other pandemics, because the rise of preprint serves meant that journalists and the public had access to data and research much faster than before. [21] She covered the development of a COVID-19 vaccine, interviewing the Head of Vaccine research at Sanofi, who estimated that it would take three years before the vaccine was widely available. [23] Sanofi have experience in the development of a SARS vaccination, as well as the ability to do large-scale manufacture, which Branswell believes is crucial to produce vaccinations for people all over the world. She questioned why Robert R. Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control, was so silent throughout the outbreak, whereas they provided regular briefings during the 2009 swine flu pandemic. [24] [25]

Fellowships and awards

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laurie Garrett</span> American science journalist and author (born 1951)

Laurie Garrett is an American science journalist and author. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism in 1996 for a series of works published in Newsday that chronicled the Ebola virus outbreak in Zaire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Public health emergency of international concern</span> Formal declaration by the World Health Organization

A public health emergency of international concern is a formal declaration by the World Health Organization (WHO) of "an extraordinary event which is determined to constitute a public health risk to other States through the international spread of disease and to potentially require a coordinated international response", formulated when a situation arises that is "serious, sudden, unusual, or unexpected", which "carries implications for public health beyond the affected state's national border" and "may require immediate international action". Under the 2005 International Health Regulations (IHR), states have a legal duty to respond promptly to a PHEIC. The declaration is publicized by an IHR Emergency Committee (EC) of international experts, which was developed following the 2002–2004 SARS outbreak.

Stat is an American health-oriented news website launched on November 4, 2015, by John W. Henry, the owner of The Boston Globe. It is produced by Boston Globe Media and is headquartered in the Globe's own building in Boston. Its executive editor is Rick Berke, who formerly worked at both The New York Times and Politico. According to Kelsey Sutton of Politico, the website is Henry's "biggest and most ambitious standalone site yet". The site's name comes from the term "stat", short for statim, or "immediately"—a term that has long been used in medical contexts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theresa Tam</span> 3rd chief public health officer of Canada

Theresa Tam is a Canadian physician and public servant who currently serves as the chief public health officer of Canada, who is the second-in-command of the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC). Tam initially took the role as acting CPHO following the retirement of her predecessor, Gregory Taylor, on 16 December 2016. She was formally appointed on 26 June 2017.

Daniel R. Lucey is an American physician, researcher, senior scholar and adjunct professor of infectious diseases at Georgetown University, and a research associate in anthropology at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, where he has co-organised an exhibition on eight viral outbreaks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">COVID-19 pandemic</span> Ongoing global pandemic of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is a global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified in an outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019. Attempts to contain it there failed, allowing the virus to spread to other areas of Asia and later worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern on 30 January 2020, and began referring to it as a pandemic on 11 March 2020. As of 10 May 2023, the pandemic had caused 765,222,168 cases and 6,921,601 confirmed deaths, making it one of the deadliest in history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neil Ferguson (epidemiologist)</span> British epidemiologist and researcher

Neil Morris Ferguson is a British epidemiologist and professor of mathematical biology, who specialises in the patterns of spread of infectious disease in humans and animals. He is the director of the Jameel Institute for Disease and Emergency Analytics (J-IDEA), director of the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, and head of the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology in the School of Public Health and Vice-Dean for Academic Development in the Faculty of Medicine, all at Imperial College London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Syra Madad</span> American pathogen preparedness expert

Syra Madad is an American pathogen preparedness expert and infectious disease epidemiologist. Madad is the Senior Director of the System-wide Special Pathogens Program at NYC Health + Hospitals where she is part of the executive leadership team which oversees New York City's response to the Coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic in the city's 11 public hospitals. She was featured in the Netflix documentary series Pandemic: How to Prevent an Outbreak and the Discovery Channel documentary The Vaccine: Conquering COVID.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">COVID-19 pandemic in Panama</span> Ongoing COVID-19 viral pandemic in Panama

The COVID-19 pandemic in Panama was a part of the worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The virus was confirmed to have spread to Panama on 9 March 2020. One of the dead was a 64-year-old male, who also had diabetes and pneumonia. Of those infected, 83 were hospitalized. The infected individuals belonged to the 29-59 age group and had each recently travelled abroad. A 13-year-old girl died of COVID-19 on 23 March 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael J. Ryan (doctor)</span> Irish doctor and Chief Executive Director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme

Michael Joseph Ryan is an Irish epidemiologist and former trauma surgeon, specialising in infectious disease and public health. He is executive director of the World Health Organization's Health Emergencies Programme, leading the team responsible for the international containment and treatment of COVID-19. Ryan has held leadership positions and has worked on various outbreak response teams in the field to eradicate the spread of diseases including bacillary dysentery, cholera, Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever, Ebola, Marburg virus disease, measles, meningitis, relapsing fever, Rift Valley fever, SARS, and Shigellosis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">COVID-19 pandemic in Guatemala</span> Ongoing COVID-19 viral pandemic in Guatemala

The COVID-19 pandemic in Guatemala was a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The virus was confirmed to have reached Guatemala in March 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Media coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic</span> Aspect of viral outbreak

Media coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic has varied by country, time period and media outlet. News media has simultaneously kept viewers informed about current events related to the pandemic, and contributed to misinformation or fake news.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caitlin Rivers</span> American emerging infectious disease epidemiologist

Caitlin M. Rivers is an American epidemiologist who as Senior Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, specializing on improving epidemic preparedness. Rivers is currently working on the American response to the COVID-19 pandemic with a focus on the incorporation of infectious disease modeling and forecasting into public health decision making.

Maimuna (Maia) Majumder is a computational epidemiologist and a faculty member at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital's Computational Health Informatics Program (CHIP). She is currently working on modeling the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Allison Joan McGeer is a Canadian infectious disease specialist in the Sinai Health System, and a professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology at the University of Toronto. She also appointed at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and a Senior Clinician Scientist at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, and is a partner of the National Collaborating Centre for Infectious Diseases. McGeer has led investigations into the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak in Toronto and worked alongside Donald Low. During the COVID-19 pandemic, McGeer has studied how SARS-CoV-2 survives in the air and has served on several provincial committees advising aspects of the Government of Ontario's pandemic response.

Planning and preparing for pandemics has happened in countries and international organizations. The World Health Organization writes recommendations and guidelines, though there is no sustained mechanism to review countries' preparedness for epidemics and their rapid response abilities. National action depends on national governments. In 2005–2006, before the 2009 swine flu pandemic and during the decade following it, the governments in the United States, France, UK, and others managed strategic health equipment stocks, but they often reduced stocks after the 2009 pandemic in order to reduce costs.

Eleanor N. Fish is a Canadian immunologist who is a Professor of Immunology at the University of Toronto. Her research considers how cytokines and chemokines interact with receptors in cells and tissue. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Fish tested interferon-alpha as a treatment for coronavirus disease.

Natalie E. Dean is an American biostatistician specializing in infectious disease epidemiology. Dean is currently an assistant professor of Biostatistics at the University of Florida. Her research involves epidemiological modeling of outbreaks, including Ebola, Zika and COVID-19.

Science diplomacy is the collaborative efforts by local and global entities to solve global issues using science and technology as a base. In science diplomacy, collaboration takes place to advance science but science can also be used to facilitate diplomatic relations. This allows even conflicting nations to come together through science to find solutions to global issues. Global organizations, researchers, public health officials, countries, government officials, and clinicians have previously worked together to create effective measures of infection control and subsequent treatment. They continue to do so through sharing of resources, research data, ideas, and by putting into effect laws and regulations that can further advance scientific research. Without the collaborative efforts of such entities, the world would not have the vaccines and treatments we now possess for diseases that were once considered deadly such as tuberculosis, tetanus, polio, influenza, etc. Historically, science diplomacy has proved successful in diseases such as SARS, Ebola, Zika and continues to be relevant during the COVID-19 pandemic today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amy Maxmen</span> American science writer and journalist

Amy Maxmen is an American science journalist who writes about evolution, medicine, science policy and scientists. She was awarded the Victor Cohn Prize for Excellence in Medical Science Reporting for her coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic, and other awards for her reporting on Ebola and malaria.

References

  1. 1 2 Sax, Paul; Branswell, Helen (April 2020). "Tracking COVID-19 from a Journalist's Perspective with STAT's Helen Branswell". Open Forum Infectious Diseases. 7 (4): ofaa129. doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofaa129 . PMC   7416838 . PMID   32793761.
  2. ↑ Carmon, Irin (19 March 2020). "A Frank Talk About Testing, Vaccines, and Twitter Trolls". Intelligencer, New York Magazine.
  3. 1 2 "Helen Branswell". STAT. Retrieved 2020-04-16.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Polk Award Winners: Helen Branswell · Longform". Longform. Retrieved 2021-05-06.
  5. ↑ "Tracking COVID-19 from a Journalist's Perspective with STAT's Helen Branswell". Open Forum Infectious Diseases. 7 (4): ofaa129. 2020-04-01. doi:10.1093/ofid/ofaa129. ISSN   2328-8957. PMC   7416838 . PMID   32793761.
  6. 1 2 "Helen Branswell: Aspen Ideas". Aspen Ideas Festival. Retrieved 2020-04-16.
  7. ↑ "Live chat: How prepared is Canada for Ebola?". www.macleans.ca. Retrieved 2020-04-16.
  8. ↑ Branswell, Helen (2015). "EBOLA WAR". Scientific American. 312 (3): 48–55. Bibcode:2015SciAm.312c..48B. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0315-48. ISSN   0036-8733. JSTOR   26046358.
  9. ↑ Branswell, Helen (2011). "FLU FACTORIES". Scientific American. 304 (1): 46–51. Bibcode:2011SciAm.304a..46B. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0111-46. ISSN   0036-8733. JSTOR   26002350. PMID   21265325.
  10. ↑ "Helen Branswell". International Symposium on Online Journalism. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  11. ↑ "2 AP staffers among 24 selected as Nieman Fellows". San Diego Union-Tribune. 2009-05-20. Retrieved 2020-04-16.
  12. ↑ "Class of 2011". Nieman Storyboard. Retrieved 2020-04-16.
  13. ↑ Branswell, Helen (2011-07-29). "Still Waging War Against Polio in India". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2020-04-16.
  14. ↑ "Why Polio Isn't Going Away". Scientific American. Retrieved 2020-04-16.
  15. 1 2 3 "Nieman Guide to Covering Pandemic Flu | Pandemic Reporting | How to Cover a Global Story Working the Phone". nieman.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2020-04-16.
  16. ↑ "Helen Branswell leaves Canada". H5N1. Retrieved 2020-04-16.
  17. ↑ Brown, Abram. "Coronavirus: The Most Essential People To Follow On Twitter During The COVID-19 Outbreak". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-04-16.
  18. ↑ "Expert Twitter Accounts For Coronavirus & COVID-19 Updates". Bustle. Retrieved 2020-04-16.
  19. ↑ Leber, Rebecca. "Want to avoid spreading coronavirus misinformation? Think like a science journalist". Mother Jones. Retrieved 2020-04-16.
  20. ↑ "Harvard Medical School Announces Media Fellows for Second Thematic Track of 2019". www.newswise.com. Retrieved 2020-04-16.
  21. 1 2 3 Carmon, Irin (2020-03-19). "A Frank Talk About Testing, Vaccines, and Twitter Trolls". Intelligencer. Retrieved 2020-04-16.
  22. 1 2 3 Tracy, Marc (2020-03-30). "The Medical News Site That Saw the Coronavirus Coming Months Ago". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2020-04-16.
  23. ↑ "Sanofi announces it will work with HHS to develop coronavirus vaccine". STAT. 2020-02-18. Retrieved 2020-04-16.
  24. ↑ Diamond, Dan; Cancryn, Adam. "'There will be death': Hard week looms on coronavirus". POLITICO. Retrieved 2020-04-16.
  25. ↑ "Q&A: CDC director on the coronavirus, masks, and an agency gone quiet". STAT. 2020-04-04. Retrieved 2020-04-16.
  26. ↑ "William Southam Journalism Fellows Alumni Roster". Massey College. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
  27. ↑ "Helen Branswell, Senior writer, STAT (USA)". World Conference of Science Journalists Lausanne 2019. 2019.
  28. ↑ Giles, Bob (7 September 2010). "Nieman Foundation and Pulitzer Center join forces to strengthen global health reporting". Pulitzer Center.
  29. ↑ "Current Winners | Long Island University". liu.edu. Retrieved 2021-05-06.
  30. ↑ "Coronavirus Crisis Update: Helen Branswell "Are Vaccines Having a Moment?"". www.csis.org. Retrieved 2021-05-06.
  31. ↑ Tracy, Marc (2021-02-24). "Polk Awards Honor Pandemic Reporters". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2021-05-06.
  32. ↑ "Helen Branswell and Amy Maxmen share 2021 Victor Cohn Prize". www.casw.org. 5 August 2021. Retrieved 2021-08-06.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.