Center for Health Journalism

09/15/2026

Read the latest story from Center for Health Journalism 2026 National Fellow Nick El Hajj

USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism

Across rural Iowa, a “sleeping giant” is stirring as families confront the grief and unanswered questions of a deepening cancer crisis. See link below ⬇️

📸 Travis LaCoss/The Register

09/15/2026

Metal recycling hubs, battery recycling plants and airports all help make lead contamination a stubborn LA County problem.

09/15/2026

From covering contaminated soil to removing topsoil and using soil additives, experts explain what LA residents can do about lead.

09/15/2026

09/11/2026

In November 2024, 2026 National Fellow Lynn Hallarman, a physician-turned-reporter, met former NYPD officers Mia and Dave in Port Jefferson, Long Island. As a palliative care physician who once treated dying 9/11 responders, Hallarman was drawn to the emotional tension in their relationship around 9/11: Mia’s growing frustration with Dave’s resistance, and the silence about that day that has stood between them.

When DOGE cuts hit the World Trade Center Health Program, this personal story of illness, memory, and family took on new meaning.

How did a national promise to create and finance a health program for the people who risked their lives and health to save others become vulnerable to partisan cost-cutting? And why are the 9/11 first responders and survivors, decades later, still getting sick?

Through Mia and Dave’s experience and Lynn’s background as a doctor and reporter, the story investigates the program’s complicated evolution and current challenges, asking what is at stake for all of us and why its survival is central to the nation's promise to “never forget.”

Her reporting appears in Mother Jones and on the Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting podcast, out now.

🔗 Learn more at the links in our comments.

Hallarman joined the Center for Health Journalism as a fellow at just the right moment in her reporting process. She attended the National Fellowship Week at USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism over the summer with a cohort of talented peers tackling similar issues. “The sessions deepened my investigative and narrative reporting skills, and unmasked blind spots in my thinking,” says Hallarman. “I was mentored by Elizabeth Koh, a top-level investigative journalist who supported me through the difficult process of structuring a narrative using over 80 hours of interviews.”

Photos: Lynn Hallarman, Mia Farina and Steven Zaitz

09/11/2026

09/11/2026

Black Caucus members Shelia Stubbs, LaTonya Johnson, Margaret Arney, Sequanna Taylor and Dora Drake are on a mission to end the infant mortality crisis.

09/03/2026

The Capital Times article is the first in a series from 2026 National Fellow Erin McGroarty.

Wisconsin has one of the highest rates of Black babies dying before their first birthday. Neither family income nor education explains the disparity.

08/27/2026

Congratulations to 2024 Data Fellow, Ed Mahon!

🔗 Read his work: https://centerforhealthjournalism.org/ed-mahon

USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism

PRO-A is Proud to announce the recipient of our 2026 Ambassador of Recovery Award – Ed Mahon! We look forward to celebrating Ed at our 9th Annual Leadership Event.

This award is presented to a person who exemplifies the key facets of service to others in recovery and supporting individuals and families to find hope, purpose and connection to expand recovery capital at the individual, family and community level.

Ed Mahon is an investigative reporter at Spotlight PA, an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit newsroom dedicated to high-quality investigative and public-service journalism about the Pennsylvania state government and urgent statewide issues. His public health reporting has spurred policy changes, created new legal precedent in favor of transparency, prompted academic research in peer-reviewed journals, and earned statewide and national honors from the Association of Health Care Journalists, Investigative Reporters and Editors, and other organizations.

In 2025, Mahon received the Neil and Susan Sheehan Award for Investigative Journalism from the National Press Club Journalism Institute for his work covering the opioid epidemic, tracking opioid settlement funds, and elevating the voices of those most affected by addiction. This work also received a first place award from the A-Mark Prize for Investigative Journalism in Pennsylvania and the G. Richard Dew Award, which the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association calls its “most prestigious honor for outstanding journalism.”

Before joining Spotlight PA, Mahon reported for news organizations across Pennsylvania — in the Philadelphia suburbs, State College, York, and the state capital. He is a former president of the Pennsylvania Legislative Correspondents’ Association. His work can be viewed at www.spotlightpa.org

Join us in celebrating Ed Mahon by purchasing a ticket to our 9th Annual Leadership Event at: https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/pennsylvania-recovery-organizations-alliance/9th-annual-leadership-event-recovery-in-a-high-potency-world