View the Latest: Journalism

Bernard J. Wolfson, senior correspondent and columnist for California Healthline, reports on the business of health care and writes a monthly consumer health column, “Asking Never Hurts.” Previously, he was the business editor of the Orange County Register and its health care reporter. Bernard was a Pulitzer Prize finalist, along with two Register colleagues, for a groundbreaking report on cost versus quality at 30 local hospitals. He also spent seven years as European editor for…

Sam Whitehead, correspondent, covers the South from his base just outside Atlanta. He previously worked as a health care reporter for public radio station WABE, where he chronicled the covid-19 pandemic as host of the award-winning podcast “Did You Wash Your Hands?” Before that, he was a general assignment reporter and fill-in radio host at Georgia Public Broadcasting. He also co-founded a long-running nightly news program on WRFI Community Radio in Ithaca, New York. He’s…

Matt Volz, Mountain States editor, coordinates KFF Health News coverage and media partnerships in Montana and Colorado from his base in Helena, Montana. He joined the organization in 2020 after 18 years as a correspondent and editor for The Associated Press in Montana, New York, Alaska, and Mississippi. Matt is a former Peace Corps volunteer and worked for a humanitarian aid organization in Kosovo after NATO’s intervention in the Balkans in 1999. He is a…

Sarah Jane Tribble, senior correspondent, is the lead reporter on the rural health desk of KFF Health News. She created the organization’s first narrative podcast, “Where It Hurts,” about the closure of a rural Kansas hospital. An Emmy winner, she has received honors for her work from the National Press Club, the National Institute for Health Care Management, and the Association of Health Care Journalists. Before joining KFF Health News, she covered the health care…

Darius Tahir, correspondent, is based in Washington, D.C., and reports on health technology with an eye toward how it helps (or doesn’t) underserved populations; how it can be used (or not) to help government’s public health efforts; and whether or not it’s as innovative as it’s cracked up to be. He joins KFF Health News after stints with Politico, Modern Healthcare, and The Gray Sheet. He’s a graduate of Stanford University and grew up in…

Lynne Shallcross, senior digital editor, joined KFF Health News after earning a master’s in journalism from the University of California-Berkeley, where she was a Kaiser Permanente Health Policy Journalism Fellow. Her interactive project on health apps won a 2015 award from the Online News Association.

Fred Schulte, investigative reporter for KFF Health News, previously worked at The Baltimore Sun, the South Florida Sun Sentinel, and the Center for Public Integrity. He is a four-time Pulitzer Prize finalist for stories including those that exposed excessive heart-surgery death rates in veterans’ hospitals, substandard care by health insurance plans treating low-income people, and the hidden dangers of cosmetic surgery in medical offices. Fred has received the George Polk Award, two awards from Investigative…

Lauren Sausser, South Carolina correspondent, covers health care across the South. She is based in Charleston, where she spent nine years covering health care at The Post and Courier. She has received awards from the Association of Health Care Journalists, the Society of Professional Journalists, and other groups. In 2016, she was part of a reporting team that was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News. In 2017, Lauren was recognized as…

Bram Sable-Smith, Midwest correspondent, joined KFF Health News after eight years covering public health and the social safety net for Wisconsin Public Radio; the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism; KBIA in Columbia, Missouri; and Side Effects Public Media, a public media reporting collaborative in the Midwest specializing in health issues. He also taught radio journalism at the University of Missouri. Bram’s reporting has received national recognition, including two Edward R. Murrow Awards, two Sigma Delta…

Julie Rovner, chief Washington correspondent, hosts the KFF Health News weekly health policy news podcast, “What the Health?” Previously, she spent 16 years as a health policy correspondent for NPR, where she helped lead the network’s coverage of the passage and implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Julie is the author of the critically praised reference book “Health Care Politics and Policy A to Z,” now in its third edition. In 2005, she received the…