Association of Health Care Journalists ends relationship with University of Missouri School of Journalism

About Kelsey Ryan

Kelsey Ryan is AHCJ’s executive director. Previously, she was founder and publisher of The Beacon, a nonprofit news network with newsrooms in Kansas City and Wichita. Before that, Ryan worked at The Kansas City Star as a data and investigative reporter, and was on the investigative team that was a finalist for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize in Public Service. She began her journalism career at The Joplin (Mo.) Globe a day after an EF-5 tornado destroyed one-third of the city, and later worked at The Wichita (Kan.) Eagle, covering health care and later city government and investigations. [email protected]

The Association of Health Care Journalists (AHCJ) and its sister organization, the Center for Excellence in Health Care Journalism, today announced that it will end its relationship with the University of Missouri School of Journalism (MU) as of June 1.

The decision comes after a careful review of AHCJ’s operations, budget and the changes in how staff work as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are grateful for the many years of partnership with MU,” said Felice Freyer, board president of AHCJ. “We have been able to provide thousands of journalists training during this time. However, as the world continues to evolve, we believe that it is in our best interest to make this change, which will allow AHCJ to retain talent, responsibly steward our dollars and better serve our members.”

AHCJ has been housed at the school since 2005. The university provided office space, human resources and payroll services. Previously, AHCJ was housed at the University of Minnesota.

Under the new arrangement, all AHCJ staff — who live across four states — will work remotely with expanded benefits and in-person staff retreats a few times a year. AHCJ events, including the organization’s national annual conference, will continue to be held in various locations, and staff will continue to travel as needed to run those events.

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About the Association of Health Care Journalists

The Association of Health Care Journalists is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing public understanding of health care issues. Its mission is to improve the quality, accuracy and visibility of health care reporting, writing and editing. There are more than 1,500 members of AHCJ.

The Center for Excellence in Health Care Journalism is a supporting 501(c)(3) for AHCJ. The purpose of the Center is to ensure that journalists are properly trained to cover news events, trends and issues in all aspects of health care journalism, including the business of health care, public policy, medical research, medical practice, consumer health issues, public health, health law and ethics.

Kelsey Ryan is AHCJ’s executive director. Previously, she was founder and publisher of The Beacon, a nonprofit news network with newsrooms in Kansas City and Wichita. Before that, Ryan worked at The Kansas City Star as a data and investigative reporter, and was on the investigative team that was a finalist for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize in Public Service. She began her journalism career at The Joplin (Mo.) Globe a day after an EF-5 tornado destroyed one-third of the city, and later worked at The Wichita (Kan.) Eagle, covering health care and later city government and investigations. [email protected]