Making Sense of Health Information in the Digital Age
FYSEMR 74C
Subject & Catalog Number
Course Information
Description
BREAKING: Coffee causes cancer! THIS JUST IN: Microplastics in our brains!
Making sense of - and coping with - the often conflicting and seemingly ever-changing information we receive from various sources on health and medical topics can be hard. This seminar will give you the skills to make sense of health and medical information and this seminar will give you the skills to communicate health and medical information effectively to others using new and novel media. Whether you are interested in a career as a social media content creator on TikTok, a medical journalist for the New York Times, a surgeon at the Massachusetts General Hospital, or you are simply interested in being a better consumer of medical information, this seminar is for you.
In this seminar, you will learn about how health information is developed for traditional (e.g., newspapers, television) and non-traditional (e.g., TikTok, YouTube) media outlets. You will visit NPR studios, meet health journalists, and learn how journalists craft health content for newspapers, television, and online publications. You will hear from YouTube-funded health content creators and learn their tricks for communicating health information that empowers their online communities. The seminar will also wrestle with the power structures that adjudicate which health topics are covered in the media and discuss the imperative of defending vulnerable populations and considering culture and literacy levels in health content creation.
NOTE: As a student in this seminar, you will be able to join field trips to podcast studios and local television stations.
Class Notes
First-Year Seminars are available only to first-year students. You may apply to both Fall 2026 and Spring 2027 First-Year Seminars via the FYS lottery between July 6 and August 6, 2026 at 11:59PM-midnight.
You may apply to as many seminars each term as you would like, but we recommend you apply to at least six in fall and three in spring.
As part of your application, you must provide a brief statement on why you are interested in each seminar. You will be notified of lottery results for both fall and spring seminars at 5 pm on August 11. If you are unsuccessful in the lottery, you may still join any seminar with open seats. A list of open seminars and instructions on next steps will be available on the First-Year Seminar Program website August 11 at 12 Noon.
Not Available for Cross Registration
