LOCUS Program Media Workshop

Every other year, Zorba Paster, MD, a local Dean Care physician and media expert, presents a Media Workshop for LOCUS (Leadership Opportunities with Communities, the Underserved and Special Populations) fellows.

Prior to the meeting, students are asked to write and submit a short article based on larger articles from JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) or the TopHealth newsletter. To begin the workshop, Dr. Paster, chose some of the student articles to elicit discussion about "getting to the point" with as few words as possible.

The second part of the workshop provided students the opportunity to be interviewed about a current health topic. Dr. Paster used a recent article from the New England Journal of Medicine. Students were selected to be the interviewer or interviewee. They practiced doing a two-minute interview and finished with a 30-second interview.

This workshop provided the LOCUS students insight into the world of the media, both written and oral. These skills are not taught in any of the medical school curriculum, and having Dr. Paster present this workshop is always very much appreciated by the LOCUS fellows.