Our Newest Blogger: Dr. Jennifer Ashton
Many people ask me how a doctor can be a medical journalist? It seems the training could not be more different!
Well, actually there are many similarities between the two careers, and I feel fortunate to have combined the two. At the most basic level, a doctor is a teacher of health and illness. A good physician should be smart, educated, inquisitive, honest and caring. She or he should also be a good communicator, often having to explain very complicated medical conditions in the simplest of terms.
I think a good medical journalist should carry the same traits as a good doctor, and every day, as I explain a medical story to millions of people, I do it in exactly the same way as I would explain it in my office to an individual patient!
Every doctor has to learn about the entire body, from head to toe. In medical school, every physician studies every specialty, before deciding on a field for the rest of his or her career. In this way, every medical story has a certain familiarity to a doctor, regardless of his/her specialty. As much as a doctor is primarily a teacher, some are also always perpetual students. Learning doesn't end with medical school and the best docs are those who strive to constantly educate themselves regarding new advances/developments in the field of medicine.
In my blog, I hope to give you some greater insights into the pieces we cover on CBS air on The Early Show and The Evening News with Katie Couric. When we only have 1 minute 30 seconds to discuss a topic, this blog will give you more information. When there is a health story that DOESN'T make our air for some reason, I will weigh-in on it with a blog entry. I will also try to share with you some of the more profound, often emotional, experiences that are part of a doctor's daily life, and ask that you share with me your opinions, questions, interests. This blog will not be a medical textbook or journal; it is intended to be an informal forum for expanding upon health/ medical topics of our interest. Please remember that this blog is NOT a forum for direct medical advice, and that seeing your own health care provider is always recommended.
Wishing you good health,
Dr. Jennifer Ashton