Handsome drug marketing journalist Jim Edwards leaves Brandweek.

I had lunch with the good looking journalist and ladies' man Jim Edwards today.

As you probably know, Jim is a must read over at BrandweekNRX.

And he had major news: He is leaving Brandweek and his blog in August.

This is great news for Jim but sad news for the rest of us:

Jim has been accepted for the prestigious Knight-Bagehot Fellowship in economics and business journalism by Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism for the 2007-2008 academic year. They only accept ten top journalists every year, and this year's class include journalists from The Wall Street Journal, Denver Post, Time, Forbes, PBS and Barron’s.

This mid-career fellowship provides full tuition and a living stipend of $50,000 for experienced journalists to take graduate courses at Columbia’s schools of business, law, and international and public affairs.

Fellows also attend special seminars at the journalism school led by scholars and business experts during the nine-month program, which begins in August. The program is open to journalists with at least four years experience.

“We look forward to welcoming the incoming class of Knight-Bagehot Fellows for a rigorous program of study here at Columbia,” said Terri Thompson, director of the program. “These journalists were selected from a pool of highly qualified reporters and writers; they represent the best and brightest in business journalism.”