Tips from the medical frontlines: Building trust and beating misinformation

Healthcare professionals battle daily to help the public grasp and trust critical, complex information amid rising misinformation. The stakes can be life-or-death.

Journalists face a similar challenge: explaining complex, sometimes life-saving topics quickly, in ways that resonate with individuals, communities, and entire cities.

Back by popular demand, Perspectives is bringing back its 2025 workshop on what journalists can learn from public health experts about reaching skeptical, fragmented audiences – and building truth-based trust when bad information is easier than ever to find.

Join us on October 14 for a hands-on workshop and panel discussion with four Chicago public health experts to:

• Learn tactics public health practitioners use to engage the public and build trust
• Understand how community-building strategies are changing in real-time in the face of algorithmically-amplified misinformation
• Practice designing an information campaign for a hypothetical public health challenge

Our panel of experts includes returning speakers and new additions:

• Dr. Michelle Brown, an ob-gyn and faculty member at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine
• Dr. Mary Tate, an attending physician and ob-gyn in Cook County and host of the podcast Dear Premed
• Dr. Kyran Quinlan, Professor of Pediatrics at Rush University and a general pediatrician, educator, researcher and advocate
• Dr. Ricardo Camacho, a psychologist and professor at Loyola University

The event will be held under the Chatham House Rule. Participants may use the information received, but cannot share the identity or affiliation of the speaker. Nothing said at the event is for publication.

Doors open at 7 p.m. for food and conversation (meal will include gluten-free, vegan and vegetarian options). Programming begins at 7:30 p.m.

We're grateful to our sponsors for making this event possible:

• Press Forward Chicago
• Medill Local News Accelerator
• The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

What is Perspectives?

Perspectives helps journalists find inspiration from a broader range of work and practice and generate connections with experts in other industries.