Expensive Readers,
I’m thrilled to share that STAT has gained a prestigious George Polk Award for documenting the Trump administration’s shakeup of the FDA, scientific analysis, and public well being.
The Polk Award honors STAT reporter Lizzy Lawrence for chronicling the upending of the FDA, People’ well being care protector. It additionally acknowledges journalists throughout STAT for, amongst different achievements, the 10-part collection “American Science, Shattered,” and the 17-part “MAHA Prognosis.” All year long, we printed a wide ranging 86 scoops, amongst a whole bunch extra tales, about modifications at U.S. well being and science companies.
That is STAT’s fourth Polk Award during the last 5 years — a testomony to our enterprising, deeply sourced, and collaborative workforce. No different information outlet our dimension has been so incessantly honored in current historical past.
Helen Branswell gained for public service for her prescient protection of Covid-19; the workforce of Matthew Herper, Adam Feuerstein, and Damian Garde gained within the medical reporting class for his or her investigation revealing that Biogen used an FDA again channel to win approval for a controversial remedy for Alzheimer’s illness. And simply final yr, Lizzy, Bob Herman, Tara Bannow, and Casey Ross gained within the well being care reporting class for his or her impactful “Well being Care’s Colossus” collection, which confirmed how UnitedHealth Group wields its unmatched doctor empire to spice up its earnings and develop its affect.
I additionally wish to congratulate our sister publication, The Boston Globe, which gained a Polk Award this yr for probing the case of Rümeysa Öztürk, a Turkish graduate pupil at Tufts College who was arrested by masked immigration brokers.
American Science, Shattered: How the Trump administration has disrupted labs, upended lives, and delayed discoveries
We really feel we’re assembly our mission to interrupt information and discover readability at a time of a lot change — with rigor and impartiality. Readers appear to agree. Over the previous yr, subscribers have flocked to our website in report numbers. Simply this month, we’ve printed quite a lot of deep-dive tales, together with a have a look at why an enormous pharma firm believes a decades-old drug can deal with Alzheimer’s, an evaluation of a looming crackdown on telehealth corporations like Hims and drug compounders, and an examination of 1 state’s partnership with a startup that may use AI to resume drug prescriptions.
In case you’re not a subscriber, I hope you’ll join — and look at this Polk recognition as the most recent demonstration of the worth of our reporting. Though we punch above our weight, our work is expensive, and we depend on subscribers to fund it. A subscription will get you entry to all of our protection, together with unique tales and subscriber-only newsletters, in addition to reductions for in-person and digital attendance at occasions across the nation, akin to our Breakthrough East Summit in New York Metropolis on March 19. For a restricted time, you will get 50% off an annual STAT+ subscription with code FEB2026.
I pledge to you we won’t let up on delivering tales you may belief. Be at liberty to succeed in out to me in case you have any suggestions. I’m at [email protected].
Sincerely,
Rick Berke
