Whether you’re aiming at in-house readers or the general public, this session will give you ideas on how to write to engage your readers, and how to make difficult-to-approach topics understandable and appealing. Pick up some tips for the art of the pitch, such as whether to focus on a topic or specific story, and how to find the right outlet for what you have. See examples of winners and sinners – what’s effective and what is not in a story proposal.

Marilynn Marchione is chief medical writer for the Associated Press. Marilynn joined the Associated Press in 2004 after 28 years as a reporter and editor at metropolitan daily newspapers, including the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Chicago Sun-Times and the Akron Beacon Journal in Ohio. As the AP’s chief medical writer, she covers national medical meetings and looks for consumer-oriented stories from science journals and other sources with an eye for “news you can use.”

In 2010, she won the Victor Cohn Prize for Excellence in Medical Science writing, awarded by the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing, and her work has been recognized by the Associated Press Managing Editors Association as well as health and medical organizations. She has had numerous fellowships, including a four-month Knight fellowship on field epidemiology at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

She earned a degree in journalism from Kent State University. Marchione presented at the annual gathering of the University Research Magazine Association hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2016.

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