This reporter is gone to Maryland

I’ll consider myself very fortunate the next few days.
Earlier this year, I applied and was one of 50 journalists from across the country accepted to attend a conference this week on medical reporting.
So for four days this week, I will be in Bethesda, Md. at the meeting entitled Medicine in Media: The Challenges of Reporting on Medical Research.
Each of the past eight years, the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Medical Applications of Research has paid for 50 journalists to attend the conference.
The NIH describes the seminar as such:

The course will examine the challenges and opportunities inherent in the process
of communicating the results of medical research to the public. Stressing an
evidence-based approach and re-examining intuitive beliefs about medicine, the
course will prepare participants for the crucial task of interpreting and
evaluating research findings, including: understanding statistics, selecting
stories that hold meaningful messages for the public, and placing them in the
appropriate context.

From Wednesday to Saturday, the course will provide 18 short classes on various medical journalism topics.
On top of all of that, it will cost me nothing. Like I said, I feel grateful.