Led by the Weill Cornell Medicine media relations and social media teams, along with trusted external experts, the program trains faculty members on techniques for conducting media interviews, writing Op-Eds, and developing social media content. The program consists of three, in-person courses requiring a total of eight hours of course commitment. 

 Ideally, the program is to support early-career faculty, but is open to all faculty, and includes:

• Course #1 Media Training:  provides messaging techniques and other best practices to maximize media interviews that will lead to greater understanding of and increased visibility for your work and expertise. The course will emphasize the importance of interview preparation and message development, how to translate and deliver complex scientific messages to lay audiences, and how to navigate the interview successfully.

• Course #2 Op-Ed Writing: covers the techniques, tools and best practices for writing and placing effective Op-Eds as well as other bylined pieces. It will outline successful Op-Ed structure, what Op-Ed editors seek from submissions, tips for building, writing and editing, as well as the process for placing the piece. Additionally, the course will cover how to avoid problematic journalistic issues and provide techniques to maximize the effectiveness of an Op-Ed.

• Course #3 Social Media: designed for current social media users to advance techniques and develop a thought leadership presence on social media to drive educational discourse and potentially counter misinformation. Faculty will learn about content creation, editorial calendar management and community engagement, especially for LinkedIn, which is replacing X/Twitter as a leading thought leadership platform.

To provide faculty members individualized attention, the media training and Op-Ed courses will have a maximum of 5-6 participants.  Each faculty member will be required to confirm his/her commitment to the eight course hours as well as any related preparation. After completion, the Weill Cornell Medicine public relations team will assist and counsel faculty on how to put their skills and new learnings into practice.