Big thanks to USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism Center for Health Journalism for selecting me to join the cohort of 2025 National Fellows and for the generous reporting grant. Congratulations to all the fellows, what a great great cohort, so many new friends. I learned so much from everyone during our fellowship week.
Center for Health Journalism announces 2025 National Fellows, more than $80,000 in grants
June 23, 2025
"The USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism is pleased to announce the selection of 21 talented and diverse journalists to participate in the 2025 National Fellowship, exploring issues related to children, youth and family well-being and community health across the country.
The Fellowship class includes reporters from print, digital and broadcast outlets, including mainstream outlets such as the Chicago Sun-Times, National Public Radio, the Los Angeles Times, and The New Yorker as well as community and ethnic media outlets including Native News Online, Capital B and Verite News.
The 2025 National Fellows will receive months of expert mentoring as they produce ambitious projects in partnership with the Center on a range of health and social welfare topics, including the youth mental health crisis, rural health care challenges, how your Zip Code impacts health and life expectancy, the intersection of unaffordable housing and the child welfare system, what it means for a child to grow up as an immigrant, conditions in juvenile detention, how to rethink prevention approaches for domestic violence, and the health impacts of climate change and environmental hazards.
The competitive program includes a multi-day learning institute that provides insights into how health is shaped by opportunities, community conditions, and structural barriers. Each Fellow will receive a reporting grant ranging from $2,000 to $10,000, and several will receive additional community engagement grants.
This is a time when journalism on child, youth and family well-being is more urgent than ever. This initiative will yield reporting that sheds light on chronic ills and new challenges. We are honored to work with these talented journalists to bring their important stories to light.
The 2025 National Fellowship is generously funded by grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The National Fellowship also receives support from the Dennis Hunt Fund for Health Journalism, which is supported by individual donors, and the Kristy Hammam Fund for Health Journalism, an initiative of the Social Impact Fund. The California Endowment provided seed funding that launched the Center more than 20 years ago.
“There has never been a more urgent need for high-quality, trusted, and inclusive health journalism,” said Jordan Reese, director of media relations at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “We look forward to the powerful storytelling of this year’s talented and diverse fellows as they illuminate today’s most-pressing health challenges and opportunities ahead. Their thorough reporting will help bring America closer to a future where health is no longer a privilege, but a right.”
“This program helps elevate powerful storytelling that sheds light on the forces shaping health and opportunity in communities across the country, deepening public understanding and sparking conversations that can lead to change,” said Monica Beltran, program officer at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
The 2025 National Fellowship will open with a keynote conversation featuring journalist Lee Hawkins, author of "I Am Nobody's Slave: How Uncovering My Family's History Set Me Free," a Harper Collins book and Center for Health Journalism National Fellowship project, involving dozens of oral histories and a decade of historical research. Other highlights of the program include a field visit to Magnolia Place, a unique community hub designed to build resilience for children and families. It is located in a densely populated, low-income immigrant neighborhood of Los Angeles that has 35,000 children within five square miles. Additional panels and discussions during the program will delve into childhood adversity and the science of resilience, trauma-informed approaches for reaching at-risk youth, and how federal funding shifts affect families and communities. Fellows also will learn about data visualization, engaged journalism, strategies for impact reporting, and other journalism best practices.
We are pleased to announce our 2025 National Fellows
Alejandra Borunda, National Public Radio
Eleanore Catolico, Planet Detroit
Jennifer Chowdhury, Prism
Victoria Clayton, The Guardian US
Bryce Covert, The Nation
Max Filby, The Columbus Dispatch
Kelly Garcia, Injustice Watch
Catherine Jaffee, KSUT
Michael Lyle, Nevada Current
Halle Parker, Verite News
Corinne Purtill, The Los Angeles Times
Gabriela Ramírez, Unbias The News
Yasmin Rafiei, The New Yorker
Kristen Schorsch, WBEZ Chicago
Susan Szuch, Springfield News-Leader
Yucheng Tang, ChicoSol
Frances Kai-Hwa Wang, Independent Journalist
Kaitlin Washburn, Chicago Sun-Times
Monique Welch, Capital B News
Elyse Wild, Native News Online
Tina Xu, Unbias the News"
