Contact:
Kate Ruddon
404-653-0790
kruddon@cdc.gov
CDC Foundation Names Director for Knight Journalism Program
March 1, 2004, ATLANTA - The CDC Foundation has named Charles Haddad, a 25-year career journalist, as director of the CDC Foundation’s Knight Journalism Fellowship and Boot Camp programs. Haddad joins the CDC Foundation from the Atlanta bureau of BusinessWeek magazine.
“We are pleased such an accomplished and respected journalist has come on board to lead the program,” said John W. Ward, M.D., who is editor of MMWR and director of scientific and health communications for the Epidemiology Program Office at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Charles has the skills and passion for the program to help it grow and achieve a high brand recognition among journalists.”
At BusinessWeek, Haddad’s reports have included the collapse of Health South, investigations of rogue pharmacies and the growing counterfeiting of prescription drugs. He also wrote a weekly online column called “Byte of the Apple.” It is the single best-read feature on BusinessWeek online, translated worldwide in French, German and Chinese.
Prior to BusinessWeek, Haddad has worked at newspapers across the country, including the The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Investors Daily. His work also has appeared in The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune.
Haddad has won several awards for investigative journalism and feature writing, including Author of the Year from the Atlanta Press Club in 1999. In addition, Haddad has written three children’s novels, all published by Random House, and teaches writing at Emory University.
A native of South Orange, N.J., Haddad is a graduate of both Harvard University and Sarah Lawrence College.
Founded by Congress seven years ago, the CDC Foundation is an independent, nonprofit enterprise that forges effective partnerships between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and others to improve health and safety.
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation promotes excellence in journalism worldwide and invests in the vitality of 26 U.S. communities where Knight brothers published newspapers. Since its first journalism grant in 1954, the foundation has given nearly $250 million to advance the education of journalism and freedom of the press.