Media Relations Policy

Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center welcomes journalists’ inquiries and has established the following media guidelines:

• Please contact Ellen Berlin (617-632-5357 or ellen_berlin@dfci.harvard.edu) or Kristen Dattoli (617-919-3141 or kristen.dattoli@childrens.harvard.edu) to arrange all interviews or background conversations with any member of the Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s staff.
• Advance notice of onsite interviews and photo/video shoots is required so Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s staff can arrange a room for media interviews or shoots, notify the patient care areas involved, and line up appropriate patients, families, and staff.
• To protect the privacy of patients and families, all reporters, film crews and photographers who visit Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s must be accompanied by a media relations specialist.
• Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996, no information other than a one-word condition on a patient’s medical status is made available to the media unless and until Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s has received written authorization from the patient’s parent or guardian.
• Reporters are asked to use Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center on first reference and Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s on subsequent mentions. Identify staff by their Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s title in stories related to their work or role with the joint program.
• For after-hours or weekend assistance, please call the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s page operator at 617-632-3737 or the Boston Children’s Hospital page operator at 617-355-6369 and ask for the communications staff member on call.