16 Journalists from Across U.S. Awarded Aging-Focused Fellowships

The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) and the Journalists Network on Generations are welcoming 16 distinguished reporters for the next cohort of the Journalists in Aging Fellows Program, now in its 13th year.

They represent a wide range of general audience, ethnic, and community media outlets, including local and national publications. This year’s group brings the program’s total number of participating reporters to 217. The new fellows were chosen — by a panel of gerontological and editorial professionals — based on their proposals for an in-depth aging-focused story or series.

The program is supported by funding from The Silver Century Foundation, The John A. Hartford Foundation, The Commonwealth Fund, Archstone Foundation, and NIHCM Foundation, and a donation from John Migliaccio, PhD, MEd, FGSA.

The participating journalists will convene during the GSA 2022 Annual Scientific Meeting — scheduled for November 2 to 6 in Indianapolis, Indiana — where they will have access to the latest aging research and approximately 4,000 expert attendees. The fellowship will showcase research highlights from the meeting and other sources, and host discussions with veteran journalists on how to position aging stories in the current media environment.

“We congratulate the new fellows and their news outlets on demonstrating a commitment to serving their communities with fact-based, topical stories on the experiences of people as we age.” said GSA Director of Communications Todd Kluss. “We are happy to provide a unique venue where these reporters can interact with top authorities to better understand everything from scientific discoveries to social and policy debates.”

Kluss co-directs the program together with independent age-beat journalist Liz Seegert, who serves as program coordinator of the fellowship’s media partner, the Journalists Network on Generations.

“After two years of successful and informative virtual fellowships, it will be nice to gather in person for our 2022 program. I’m looking forward to working with this year’s outstanding group of fellows to help them pursue multiple angles on what it means to grow older in the United States,” Seegert said. “Our goal is to connect fellows with the resources and knowledge to enrich their reporting and develop more in-depth, nuanced stories about the many aspects of aging.”

Continuing fellowship grants also are being provided to allow 10 previous fellows to participate in the program and GSA’s meeting. A continuously updated list of nearly 800 stories generated by the program’s alumni is available at www.geron.org/coverage.

The new fellows:

Patricia Anstett (Urban Aging News, part of Michigan Solutions Journalism Network)
Project: “The Financial Burden of Breast Cancer on Aging Women,” on the financial toxicity of breast cancer with low Medicare and little private coverage.

Michelle Baruchman (The Seattle Times)
Project: The mental-health and other impacts on LGBTQ+ older adults, and how housing communities can help address their needs.

Claire Cleveland (Collective Colorado)
Project: The search for non-discriminatory assisted living that won’t force LGBTQ+ older adults back “into the closet.”

Ann Hedreen (3rd Act Magazine)
Project: How reflection and writing, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, helped older adults define meaning in their lives.

Jessie Hellmann (CQ Roll Call)
Project: Older Americans and the risk for substance abuse in the opioid epidemic.

Abriana Herron (Indianapolis Recorder)
Project: Series on the lives and struggles of Black veterans in Indianapolis, with multimedia elements accessible to the Black deaf community.

Ambika Kandasamy (San Francisco Public Press)
Project: The health risks of climate change, such as heat waves, for older adults, with a focus on model solutions developed in San Francisco’s Chinatown and other U.S. cities.

Nora Malacuso (PBS Next Avenue)
Project: Aging and marginalized immigrant communities, a series focusing on Philadelphia.

Jyoti S. Madhusoodanan (Nature Magazine)
Project: The continued exclusion of older people from clinical trials for treatments often intended for them.

Barbara Mantel (CQ Researcher)
Project: A comprehensive examination of the growing mental health toll of health issues on older people, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mey Lyn Mitteen (Excélsior, Southern California News Group)
Project: A focus on Latino older adults and technology during the COVID-19 era.

Alex Rosenberg (NerdWallet)
Project: Evaluating “alternatives” to Medicare, such as Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drugs, direct primary care options, and others, to advise on consumers how to distinguish scams from effective programs.

Anita Snow (Associated Press)
Project: Climate change and older adults’ increasing vulnerability to temperature extremes, focusing on public accountability and solutions.

Annmarie Timmins (New Hampshire Bulletin)
Project: State legislative controversies over long-term care policies in wake of COVID-19.

Mark Woolsey (Atlanta Senior Life)
Project: Mental Health issues for older adults with long-haul COVID-19.

Yiyang Zheng (World Journal, New York bureau)
Project: Bilingual Chinese-English investigation of how New York Chinatown families hit by COVID-19 have rebuilt and recovered, as well as their continuing difficulties.

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The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) is the nation's oldest and largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to research, education, and practice in the field of aging. The principal mission of the Society — and its 5,500+ members — is to advance the study of aging and disseminate information among scientists, decision makers, and the general public. GSA’s structure also includes a policy institute, the National Academy on an Aging Society.

The Journalists Network on Generations, founded in 1993, is based in San Francisco. It links to over 1,000 journalists, authors, and producers on issues in aging, and publishes Generations Beat Online News (GBONews.org).