Million Dollar Meds (MDM), a multimedia awareness campaign focused on rare diseases, has received a 2016 Edward R. Murrow Award from the Radio Television Digital News Association in the International category.
MDM consists of a series of video clips of people living with rare diseases and their families, as well as interviews with health economists, researchers, and experts. A UBC Graduate School of Journalism project for the CIHR New Emerging Team for Rare Diseases, MDM is led by Dr. Larry Lynd, Project Lead and CHÉOS Scientist; Alberto Mendoza-Galina, Senior Producer; and Peter Klein, Media Project Lead and Associate Professor at UBC’s School of Journalism.
“The objective of the MDM initiative is to increase public awareness related to the issues and economic pressures associated with funding of drugs for rare diseases, as many of them cost more them $500,000 per year per patient, for their lifetime,” said Dr. Lynd.
“Receiving this award will hopefully increase the exposure of the website, which will in turn continue to increase the public awareness of the issues.”
The Edward R. Murrow Awards recognize achievements in electronic journalism. They are named after the American broadcast journalist of the same name, who was known for his coverage of WWII on CBS Radio and his documentary news series, See It Now. Murrow was well-known for ending his broadcasts with the phrase, “Good night, and good luck.”
