The Missouri School of Journalism held its latest Smith/Patterson Science Journalism Lecture on October 26, featuring CNN science journalist Caleb Hellerman. The event, organized in collaboration with the Pulitzer Center, focused on “Growing Pressure on Cancer Care and Research.”
Hellerman has spent the past year reporting on issues related to cancer care and research. During the lecture, he highlighted a troubling decline in investment for cancer research in the United States, particularly affecting rural communities and pediatric patients. He noted that individuals in rural areas have a 10% higher likelihood of dying after a cancer diagnosis compared to those living in urban settings.
“I just felt like this was a really needy, important topic,” Hellerman stated. He explained that his reporting led him to confront stark statistics about hospital closures, prompting him to find compelling ways to present these challenges in his storytelling.
The Smith/Patterson Science Journalism Lecture series has been a fixture at the Missouri School of Journalism since 2008 and has partnered with the Pulitzer Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting journalism, since 2017. Professor Sara Shipley Hiles, who has been involved with the series and the Science Journalism Fellowship for nearly a decade, expressed her enthusiasm for the interactions it fosters. “Thousands of people have attended these lectures over time, and I absolutely love having the interaction of journalism students and faculty with people from other parts of campus and the community,” she said.
Attendees of the lecture included students from various colleges within the University of Missouri, such as the School of Medicine, the College of Veterinary Medicine, and the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources. Junior journalism student Alex Wolford attended the event to connect with field journalists, remarking, “You only get to talk to so many of those. It’s a chance to meet someone who’s actually made the jump from studying this to doing it.”
Hiles and the Pulitzer Center aim to cover diverse topics with each biannual lecture. Past subjects have included psychedelic drug therapy for veterans with PTSD and the visual documentation of climate change. “I hope people will walk away having learned something surprising, something that they weren’t expecting,” Hiles said. “I hope that they’ll feel a little bit inspired.”
In addition to imparting knowledge, Hellerman encouraged journalism students to embrace their roles as inquisitive reporters. He advised, “If you have a question, if something doesn’t seem right to you or seems interesting to you, follow it and chase it. I think there’s real value in that.”
