Usha Lee McFarling awarded 2024 Victor Cohn Prize
Usha Lee McFarling (@ushamcfarling), national science correspondent at STAT, has been selected to receive the 2024 Victor Cohn Prize for Excellence in Medical Science Reporting.
Amid an exceedingly competitive field of applicants, McFarling stood out for her commitment to exposing and explaining the racial disparities that plague the American healthcare system, along with her dedication to mentoring the next generation of journalists. “Her authoritative work shows how racism, both intentional and the kind that reflects unthinking neglect, causes millions of Americans to live shorter and unhealthier lives,” wrote judge Steve Padilla, editor of the Los Angeles Times showcase feature Column One. “Aside from producing powerful stories, Usha serves as a role model who inspires young journalists, particularly those of color.”
McFarling was honored for work published in STAT, including a piece documenting how white researchers take credit for health equity research done by scholars of color—a story the American Psychological Association cited in its 2021 public apology for its role in promoting, perpetuating, and failing to challenge racism.
The Victor Cohn Prize for Excellence in Medical Science Reporting is awarded annually by the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing (CASW) for a body of work published or broadcast within the last five years. McFarling will receive a $5,000 cash award and be recognized during a November 10 awards ceremony at ScienceWriters2024, a joint meeting of CASW and the National Association of Science Writers (NASW) to be held in Raleigh, N.C.
The prize is underwritten by Michelson Philanthropies, a Los Angeles-based philanthropic organization devoted to supporting medical research, equity in education, and improving animal welfare. A reception sponsored by Michelson Philanthropies celebrating the Cohn Prize will follow the awards ceremony.
“At Michelson Philanthropies, we recognize the critical role that medical science reporting plays in bridging the gap between groundbreaking research and the public’s understanding and trust,” said Michelson Philanthropies Executive Director Geoffrey Baum. “Usha Lee McFarling’s outstanding career exemplifies the power of journalism to illuminate complex issues and advocate for equity in healthcare. Her in-depth coverage of how systemic racism permeates every level of medical training is a powerful example of journalism that not only informs but also inspires meaningful change. We are honored to partner with CASW in recognizing Ms. McFarling’s remarkable contributions with the Victor Cohn Prize, and we look forward to the continued positive influence her reporting will have on science, policy, and public health.”
Usha Lee McFarling
Usha Lee McFarling has been a science and medical writer for three decades, working at the Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, San Antonio Light, and Knight-Ridder Washington Bureau, and has also taught journalism at the University of Washington. She has an undergraduate degree in biology from Brown University and a master’s degree in animal behavior from the University of California, Berkeley.
McFarling has written for STAT since 2016 from Los Angeles, where she resides with her family. Her coverage has included basic research behind biomedical advances, the Covid-19 pandemic, and, since 2021, a series of stories probing the reasons behind our nation’s deeply embedded racial health inequities.
“Hers is the defining voice on how our nation’s legacy of unequal treatment has shaped the fields of academic medicine and research,” Michelle Levander, director of the University of Southern California Center for Health Journalism, wrote in a letter supporting McFarling’s nomination.
McFarling’s science and medical journalism has been honored for decades. She was a 1991-92 Knight Science Journalism Fellow—one of the youngest people ever selected for the program—where she focused on evolution and cutting-edge biomedical technologies. As a staff science journalist at The Los Angeles Times, she was part of a team that won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in explanatory journalism for a series of pieces on the world’s distressed oceans. The work was widely lauded and earned many of science journalism’s top prizes, including the 2006 George Polk Award for Environmental Reporting, the 2007 Grantham Prize of the Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment, the 2007 American Geophysical Union Walter Sullivan Award for Excellence in Science Journalism, the 2007 Carl Sagan Award for Public Understanding of Science, and a Science in Society Award from NASW.
More recently, she received first prize in the beat reporting category of the 2021 Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism for stories described as showing that “systemic racism exists at every level” of medical training. In 2023, she and her STAT colleague Angus Chen received the Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion reporting. And this year, she won an Asian American Journalist Association’s (AAJA’s) Journalism Excellence Award for her STAT coverage of health disparities affecting Asian-Americans.
Beyond recognition from the journalism world, McFarling’s work has had an impact on the communities and professional fields she covers. “It matters that she’s doing it in a publication that is a must-read for people in biomedicine,” judge Laura Helmuth wrote.
McFarling is also known for her dedication to sharing her knowledge and skills with the wider journalism community. She has led sessions on covering race in science in concert with organizations including NASW, CASW, AAJA, and the Association of Health Care Journalists. In a letter recommending McFarling for the award, STAT co-founder Rick Berke called McFarling the newsroom’s “No.1 mentor,” noting that she created a Science Writing 101 curriculum for STAT interns and routinely organizes virtual skill-building sessions for STAT’s reporters. “Usha’s greatest asset as a mentor is the example she sets for others by approaching her work with unbridled joy and curiosity,” wrote STAT reporter Jonathan Wosen in a recommendation letter, adding that McFarling has been one of his strongest advocates.
McFarling will discuss her work with Padilla in a special CASW Connector Chat on October 9 at 3:30 p.m. Eastern time. Join their discussion of elements of great storytelling, blending narrative and science, and more, using a few of McFarling’s award-winning stories as examples. Register here.
The Victor Cohn Prize
McFarling is the 29th recipient of the Cohn prize, given for a body of work published or broadcast within the past five years. This year’s entries were judged by Laura Beil, freelance science journalist and 2018 Cohn Prize recipient; Laura Helmuth, editor in chief of Scientific American and former board member and past president of NASW; Steve Padilla; Slate Features Editor Shannon Palus; and Christine Russell, science journalist, senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, and longtime CASW board member. The judging was chaired by freelance writer Christie Aschwanden, vice president of CASW and author most recently of Good to Go: What the Athlete in All of Us Can Learn from the Strange Science of Recovery.
The Victor Cohn Prize for Excellence in Medical Science Reporting has been presented since 2000. In addition to Beil, past recipients include Laurie Garrett of Newsday; Lawrence K. Altman of The New York Times; Jon Palfreman, a public television documentarian; Daniel Q. Haney, medical editor of The Associated Press; Shannon Brownlee, a noted magazine writer and book author; Michelle Trudeau of National Public Radio; Rick Weiss of the Washington Post; Jerome Groopman of The New Yorker; Geeta Anand of The Wall Street Journal; Denise Grady of The New York Times; Ron Winslow of The Wall Street Journal; Jon Cohen of Science magazine; freelance health reporter and former NPR correspondent Joanne Silberner; Elisabeth Rosenthal of The New York Times; Mark Johnson of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; Liz Szabo, health writer for USA Today and senior correspondent for Kaiser Health News; the late Sharon Begley, senior science writer at STAT; Apoorva Mandavilli, founder of Spectrum and now a New York Times science writer; Ed Yong, formerly of The Atlantic; Helen Branswell of STAT; Nature senior reporter Amy Maxmen; Pam Belluck of The New York Times; Stephanie M. Lee, formerly of BuzzFeed News; and Maryn McKenna, senior writer at WIRED.
The award honors the late Washington Post medical writer and health columnist Victor Cohn, known as the dean of medical science reporting. He distinguished himself by the clarity and effectiveness of his reporting during a 50-year career that began with outstanding coverage of early “wonder” drugs and the polio vaccine, as well as the dawn of the modern space age. Late in his career, Cohn started a Post column called “The Patient’s Advocate” and authored News & Numbers: A Guide to Reporting Statistical Claims and Controversies in Health and Other Fields. Cohn, who died of cancer in 2000, was a co-founder in 1959 of CASW.
CASW is a not-for-profit organization committed to improving the quality and quantity of science news reaching the public.
For links to Usha Lee McFarling’s recent work, visit her STAT profile.
For more about Michelson Philanthropies, see the Michelson website.
