Street Sense editor-in-chief Mary Otto has been selected as one of 12 journalists from seven countries to receive a Knight Science Journalism Fellowship, a nine-month program that will allow her to learn from and study with the best and most knowledgeable in the field of science journalism at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University.
This fellowship allows experienced journalists the opportunity to live and study in an environment that encourages thinking beyond the necessity of “getting the story” and provides fellows the time to follow intellectual digressions and improve their skills. This fulltime fellowship will run the 2009-10 school year.
Consequently, come August, Mary will begin an extended leave-of-absence from her position at Street Sense. During her time at the fellowship Otto hopes to attend classes at Harvard University Medical School and the School of Dental Medicine and the Kennedy School of Government studying oral care, mental health, and health care reform.
Before coming to Street Sense, Mary worked for the Washington Post for seven years and wrote extensively about health disparities and the difficulties that the working poor face getting access to health care, particularly dental care. One article she wrote about a 12-year-old boy, Demonte, who died from dental complications gained national attention and help to reform dental care for the poor.
“Covering that issue and reporting about what happened to him really provided a window to me. I saw a real gap in access. This is something that could threaten somebody’s life and certainly affects a lot of peoples’ quality of life,” Otto said. “If you’re in pain all the time, you can’t eat, you can’t concentrate, and you can’t sleep. How are you supposed to do well in school or do well at your job?”
