Jobs

Join our growing team. Check out our current openings:

Contributing Multimedia Editor – Brain Health

  • Part-time, freelance, remote
  • Estimated 15 to 20 hours per week
  • $2,000/month contract
  • Deadline to apply: June 3

THE ROLE

Being Patient — an editorially independent digital news start-up publishing original multimedia reporting on important health issues, with a focus on the patient’s point of view — is hiring a Contributing Multimedia Editor.

The person in this role will produce Q&As with brain health experts and patients in the form of videos and podcasts, as well as written profiles, features, and news stories about cognitive science, neurodegenerative diseases, and brain health. This work reaches 100K+ readers per month in the scientific, caregiving, advocacy and patient communities. This role reports to the managing editor.

THE RIGHT FIT

You are self-motivated, attentive, creative and eager to work in a fast-paced, collaborative virtual newsroom, helping connect our large, engaged audience with credible, vetted, easy-to-understand interpretations of the latest news and research in brain science, cognitive and neuropsychiatric health, Alzheimer’s and dementia. 

You’re also a strong writer with experience in science journalism who turns in clean copy and meets deadlines. You’ve got:

  • Familiarity with — and a genuine interest in — the subject matter
  • Experience in health or science journalism (at least 3 clips to share)
  • “Good” “people skills” — handy when communicating with people who may be living with a fatal brain disease and their family members
  • The ability to meet deadlines every week
  • The ability to attend one all-team editorial meeting every Monday
  • An understanding of the ethics and etiquette around interviewing sources
  • Familiarity with WordPress, Zoom, YouTube, and basic video editing

THE RESPONSIBILITIES

Here’s a more in-depth description of the types of stories you’d be producing.

PRODUCE A VIDEO/AUDIO SERIES OF EXPERT & PATIENT INTERVIEWS

You’ll take the reins of our LiveTalks series — BrainTalks (real-time Zoom conversations with researchers, clinicians and experts) and Perspectives (with people living with neurodegenerative diseases and their family members) — producing one LiveTalk per week, while brainstorming and executing on ways to build the series and to reach new viewers/listeners.

  • Program one live video interview per week, keeping an eye on the news cycle, gathering ideas for sources, reaching out to people and inviting them to participate.
  • Manage set-up and scheduling of weekly talks from our BrainTalks and Perspectives series, prepping sources and coordinating as needed with talk hosts and participants. 
  • Help promote LiveTalks in partnership with our social and editorial teams.
  • Moderate the LiveTalks and monitor audience questions and comments.
  • Publish LiveTalks to YouTube, our podcast channel and our website.
  • Host on occasion? Are you comfortable in front of a camera? If so, share in the hosting these talks with our EIC. One of our previous reporters used her LiveTalk clips in her reel and landed a job in broadcast journalism on local nightly news.

FILE ABOUT 8 ARTICLES PER MONTH

Be prepared to pitch story ideas, and be open to assignments. File one to three news articles each week. These may include:

  • 600- to 800-word original reported features, profiles or news stories 
  • Drawing on the LiveTalks, Q&A-format articles with an introduction, summary, and transcription of the video interview done that week. See examples of these articles here.
  • File stories in Google Docs; input approved final drafts into WordPress

ABOUT BEING PATIENT

Being Patient (beingpatient.com) is an editorially independent digital news start-up and community engagement platform that publishes original multi-media reporting on important health issues, with a focus on the patient’s point of view.

Founded by former The Wall Street Journal executive producer Deborah Kan, Being Patient’s mission is to provide clear, unbiased information to communities impacted by a disease. Our global team of journalists examines the latest research on Alzheimer’s and brain health, elevating the voices of patients and caregivers. We have pioneered a community-driven editorial model, finding out what patients need to know and going straight to the expert community for vetted, trustworthy answers. We leverage cutting-edge technology and tools to produce necessary content, to crowdsource ideas, and to drive the conversation forward on important health topics.

Being Patient has two weekly segments of Zoom-based LiveTalks. Being Patient BrainTalks is our series with scientific and care experts on brain health and dementia, and Being Patient Perspectives is our interview series with people diagnosed with dementia about symptoms, diagnosis and living with Alzheimer’s.

TO APPLY

Send three published science/health writing clips, your résumé and a cover letter to alex@beingpatient.com by Friday, June 17th.