More difficult than bathing a leper?

Contrary to what Mother Teresa claimed, dealing with the media is not more difficult than bathing a leper. I've never tried the latter, but I do deal with media on a daily basis and it's my job to make your experience with journalists as positive as possible.

Often, reporters are calling to find medical or dental experts to talk about events in the news or to comment on research. Having our faculty in the news helps to build the School's reputation, which is vital when you're trying to recruit the best possible faculty, staff, students and of course, donors. So if at all possible, please consent to these interviews.

I would also encourage you to let me know when you're having a paper published, and the earlier the better. I'll come and do a short interview and possibly shoot some video of you describing the research. Using that and a copy of the paper, I'll write a news release which you can vet, before it goes out. Distribution will follow all the embargo rules set out by each journal, and if you're also a scientist with Lawson, it will go out as a joint news release.

News releases are sent to every health reporter in the country, along with all the local media outlets and the funding agency. Western also subscribes to EurekAlert, an online global news service operated by the AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) which has 8,900 reporters signed on. Video and photographs can also be uploaded to this site. This gives us tremendous coverage, but I can't publicize your research, if I don't know about it. So please, call me at ext. 81136 or email me at kathy.wallis@schulich.uwo.ca.

-Kathy Wallis, Media Relations Officer, Schulich Medicine & Dentistry