The Lear Center's Hollywood, Health & Society program brought together top experts on the science and psychology of addiction to discuss cutting-edge research with the producers and writers from A&E's Emmy Award-winning series Intervention at the Writers Guild of America, West. The briefing was co-sponsored by HH&S, the WGAW and A&E/Intervention and kicks off a new bi-monthly speaker series in which experts will help Intervention's creative team tell accurate and compelling stories about all forms of addiction.
Hollywood, Health & Society Director Sandra de Castro Buffington presented “Recovery and the Media: Addiction and Treatment in Entertainment and News—The Road to Recovery” at the US Department of Health and Human Services and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) for the National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month in Rockville, Maryland, on July 7, 2010.
Hollywood, Health & Society director Sandra de Castro Buffington was asked to join the Millenium Project's Global Arts and Media Node and presented a talk at the State of the Arts 2010 Symposium, offered by Millenium Project's partner organization, c3: Center for Conscious Creativity.
Director of HH&S Sandra de Castro Buffington presented “Entertainment for Social Change: Working with Hollywood’s Storytellers to Improve Health and Well Being Worldwide” at the Culture of Peace Distinguished Speaker Series. The event was held at the Soka Gakkai International (SGI-ISA) Culture of Peace Resource Center in Santa Monica. The distinguished speaker series seeks to engage people in a dialogue on the values, attitudes and behaviors that reject violence and inspire creative energy toward peaceful resolution of conflicts.
Sandra de Castro Buffington, director of Hollywood, Health & Society, moderated this discussion that brought top TV producers, writers and performers together to meet with key Washington policymakers on Capitol Hill. With a focus on showing how global health issues are depicted in entertainment media, the discussion covered such topics as tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, reproductive health and more. The event drew over 100 guests, and six congressional offices, nine U.S. government agencies and more than 10 nonprofit stakeholders were represented. Panelists included actress Mariska Hargitay, co-star of Law & Order: SVU, who spoke about her experiences with the show that led her to start the Joyful Heart Foundation for victims of sexual assault. Neal Baer, executive producer of the show, also joined the panel, and showed clips from a recent film by Alcides Soares about HIV/AIDS orphans in Mozambique. Sally Canfield of The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation spoke about public health interventions that work globally, such as vaccinations for preventable diseases and bed nets to combat malaria. Watch Part 2 | Watch Part 3 | Read transcript
Health experts discussed leading-edge technology and therapy and exposed the myths of organ donation. Real organ recipients and donors shared personal stories about their roles in the second chance at life that donation offers.
Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the objectives of this two-day conference are 1) to gain a deeper understanding of the most effective ways to evaluate the impact of global health-related storylines on television, for both domestic and international audiences; 2) to identify research gaps in this area; and 3) to propose an innovative strategy for forward-thinking, targeted research that will strengthen and focus entertainment-education efforts that increase knowledge of and support for global health initiatives among the general public, policymakers, and opinion leaders.
Panelists offered compelling stories about addiction—from substance abuse to treatment and recovery, and included recovered addicts, medical experts, specialists in drug and tobacco policy, and TV writers who have turned stories about addiction into top-rated television shows.
The NBC drama ER received first place in the primetime drama category at the tenth annual Sentinel for Health Awards for a storyline involving a grandmother’s anguish as she makes the difficult decision to allow her grandson’s organs to be donated, giving meaning to his tragic death and a second chance at life to others.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is in touch with heroes on the front lines of health and medical crises worldwide, and our keynote speaker Tachi Yamada oversees the largest health portfolio in the world. This special event featured compelling global health stories from experts in the heart of the action overseas, and TV writers who have turned stories on global health topics into top-rated television shows.
