My path to becoming a healthcare journalist began in 2015, when I returned to my hometown of Athens, Georgia, for graduate school at the University of Georgia. I was just beginning a master’s program in health and medical journalism when the Zika virus was rapidly spreading across South and Central America.

News outlets began telling the stories of babies born with severe birth defects after their mothers contracted the virus during pregnancy. I was struck by the journalists who could explain complicated and frightening science without losing sight of the human beings at the center of the story. I knew then that was the kind of work I wanted to do.

In the decade since, my work has taken me from rural hospitals and statehouses to boardrooms and cities grappling with gun violence. I've covered the opioid epidemic and the coronavirus pandemic, investigated health systems and followed the consequences of policy decisions to the people who live with them.

My articles have reached audiences across the U.S., and I've been invited to discuss my reporting at national journalism conferences and with publications including Politico. My work has also earned state and national recognition, but I'm most proud of the difference it has made close to home. My reporting has helped spur new legislation, programs and policy changes — from prompting Tennessee officials to change the location of a planned psychiatric hospital to inspiring a partnership that embedded social work students in Chattanooga’s fire department, a model later replicated in other states.

Today, I specialize in enterprise and accountability reporting on healthcare systems, public health and health policy, translating complex subjects with clarity and context. I listen before drawing conclusions, follow where the reporting leads and seek out overlooked stories that my experience and sourcing uniquely position me to tell. Perhaps most importantly, people remain at the heart of my approach to journalism.