Best of CASE District VII Award
 

Institution: Stanford University

Title of entry: Unlocking the Secrets of the Brain - Stanford Medicine Magazine

About this entry: Our goal with our theme issue "The most mysterious organ: Unlocking the secrets of the brain," was to amaze and offer hope through discoveries and advances in treatment — and at the same time show Stanford Medicine’s leadership in neurology, neurosciences and neurosurgery. It was a tall order, given the mood of despair and anger during the COVID-19 pandemic and outcry over racial injustice. But we knew that new research and treatments were finally making inroads into the mysterious terrain of the brain and nervous system, and Stanford researchers and health care workers had inspiring stories to tell — from using virtual reality tools to prepare for a fiendishly difficult brain surgery to developing a vibrating glove to help alleviate Parkinson's disease symptoms.

In addition to covering the theme, we sought to engage readers inside and outside of academic medicine, raise thought leaders’ awareness of Stanford Medicine perspectives on important medical issues; promote diversity, equity and inclusion; and spread the message that Stanford is a leader in medical education, research and patient care. Above all, we wanted our audience to benefit from our content.

To help inform our editorial approaches, we monitor audience engagement metrics including emails and comments, pageviews, social media activity, media coverage and reports from those featured in the articles and internal constituents.

The subscribers include medical school alumni, biomedical thought leaders, media, donors, the Stanford Medicine community and the public. This issue was published in October 2021 in print and online.