Excellence in Science / Environment / Health Reporting
ABOUT THE WORK: Health disparities have been a focus of media attention since 2020, when minority groups in America were hit harder by Covid-19 than white Americans. But this national conversation about health inequities, amplified by the racial reckoning following the death of George Floyd, has largely left out the experiences of Asian Americans. Viewed as a whole, Asian Americans rank near the top of health rankings, but looking deeper, glaring health disparities and other social and economic disadvantages emerge. These are often unexplored and ignored, even amid the rise of anti-Asian hate incidents.
Usha Lee McFarling is a national science correspondent for STAT, covering health disparities and the intersection of race with science and medicine. She previously reported for the Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Knight Ridder Washington Bureau, and the San Antonio Light, where she covered killer bees, bat rabies outbreaks, and cases of leprosy linked to armadillo taxidermy. Her work on the diseased state of the world's oceans earned the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for explanatory journalism and her coverage of health disparities has earned recognition from the Edward R. Murrow awards, the Association of Health Care Journalists, and the Asian American Journalists Association. Usha graduated from Brown University with a degree in biology and later earned a master's degree at UC Berkeley after spending years studying the behavior of desert woodrats.
Judges’ comments: “With rigorous reporting, Usha takes on the health disparities faced by both Asian American patients and doctors in different ways. Her coverage is striking in its depth, masterfully interweaving historical context, research and eye-opening datasets to shed light on the AAPI community. Usha's stories may be driven by data, but they are equally as heartfelt.”
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