Welcome David Mokotoff, good-bye, Naseem Miller

On Consumer Corner, you'll find a column by cardiologist David Mokotoff of St. Petersburg, who loves to write, both fiction and non-fiction.  I've known him since interviewing him around 20 years ago when I was medical writer for the St. Petersburg Times.

We hope this will be only the first of many columns he'll contribute and that his efforts will inspire others who are involved in patient care to share their insights. We want to hear from patients, too. 

Maybe such columns can help all sides understand one another better as the rhetoric heats up in Washington.

Meanwhile, I have mixed feelings in offering some news about Naseem Sowti Miller, who until recently covered health care for the Ocala Star-Banner. Unfortunately, she's leaving Florida for a year, but the good news is the reason:
 
She's won a fellowship in investigative journalism from American University's School of Communication, in partnership with the Center for Public Integrity. As part of the fellowship, she'll work on a master's degree at AU in Washington, D.C. and work part-time with the prestigious non-profit journalism organization, which won first prize in this year's contest of the Association of Health Care Journalists.

Tom McNiff, managing editor of Ocala Star-Banner, called Naseem "an exceptional member of our team, using her science background and good journalistic technique to elevate our reporting on health care issues to new heights.
 
"She has reported hundreds of compelling stories in her time here," he said. "She has chronicled the local health care system's struggle to provide quality medical care to the greatest number of people with dwindling revenues, making sure in each case to show the impact on the health care consumer."
 
As a 2008 Kaiser Media Fellow in Health, she wrote about jails that have found innovative ways to provide medical care to inmates.

We wish her the best of luck and hope someday she'll return.

--Contact Carol Gentry, Editor, at 727-410-3266 or by e-mail.