Shelly Banjo, managing editor of global business coverage at Bloomberg News, sent out the following:
We are thrilled to announce that Rachel Cohrs Zhang will be joining Bloomberg as a Washington-based national health reporter on Feb. 10.
Rachel will lead health coverage out of Washington, chronicling the Trump administration’s rapidly changing approach to health care – which at $5 trillion is the US’s largest expenditure after defense – and its widespread implications on companies, policies and consumers.
From scoops and enterprise on vaccines and abortion to drug prices, HHS and the FDA, Rachel will keep readers ahead of the most critical health questions of the day. She will work closely with Anna Edney, who recently notched a Loeb award for her work on the ‘Bad Medicine’ series and will continue her investigations and scoops, including her incisive coverage on the dangers lurking in drugs and personal care products.
To break news on the implications of the Trump administration’s health actions, Rachel will team up with the health teams globally, as well as colleagues who cover Washington, national news and equality.
Rachel was most recently the chief Washington correspondent for the health website STAT, where she broke news on Trump’s plans to overhaul Medicare payments. Rachel hails from Rochester, Minnesota, and studied journalism at the University of Southern California. In her spare time, Rachel is an avid baker, earning first place in a STAT cupcake-baking competition for her design of Anthony Fauci’s model of the Covid-19 virus. (See photo attached).
As we look to bolster the health and consumer teams and break down the team silos that sometimes prevent us from dominating the day’s biggest stories, we are also making a number of additional changes across both US teams:
On health, Ike Swetlitz will take on coverage of Walgreens and CVS, as well as some insurers. Ike will work in lockstep with John Tozzi, who will continue his award-winning health-insurance coverage. John, who was recently chosen to join the Reporter Advisory Board, will focus on insurance giants like UnitedHealth and Elevance and work with Rachel on the big reverberations out of Washington in Medicare and the insurance industry.
Jessica Nix will join the health team from the rotator program, covering consumer-health topics and the national stories that captivate an increasingly health-obsessed reader. Think health outbreaks (Bird flu, E. Coli) that lead to food shortages (eggs) and restaurant closings, political issues around abortion, opioids or Surgeon General’s reports on mental health and alcohol. Jessica will also have a dotted line to Emily and work closely with food reporter Deena Shanker on the consumer team, as well as with agriculture, equality, national, tech, and Washington.
Fiona Rutherford joins the consumer team on the vices beat – tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, psychedelics and the companies and people making money in these industries. Fiona will report to Emily with a dotted line to Cynthia and the health team as it relates to regulatory and health implications. Fiona will also work in lockstep with Sabah Meddings in the UK as we take a more global approach to covering these companies and global trends.
As we elevate our consumer coverage, Kim Bhasin takes on an expanded role as a senior reporter. While he maintains beat coverage of US sportswear (Nike, Lululemon) and celebrity and sports business deals, he’ll tap into his excellent coaching and collaboration skills to team up with reporters on ambitious and impactful coverage like his work on Nike’s crisis and the spectacular downfall of Ye’s Yeezy deal with Adidas.
Speaking of the crisis at Nike, Kim’s co-collaborator in that epic story – Lily Meier – is officially joining the Consumer team after wrapping up the rotation program in mid-February.
Lily will take over the specialty retail beat, chronicling how Gap, Abercrombie and other brands we used to call “mall-based retailers” are trying to maintain relevance in a world where TikTok influencers are the real trendsetters and Temu and Shein have redefined the world of fast-fashion. She’ll also take over Best Buy and Dollar Stores from Jaewon Kang, allowing Jaewon to focus more closely on big-box retailers like Walmart, Target and Home Depot.
As the world changes, so will our coverage, beats and reporting lines. To remain competitive, we have to think expansively, remain nimble and break out of the trap of traditional beat and team silos.
This is especially true with stories that live in the intersection between Washington, health and consumer coverage, as evidenced by the recent big scoop on Red No. 3 by Anna and Deena. It was only through collaboration between both teams – guided by US health TL Cynthia Koons and US consumer TL Emily Cohn – we were able to beat the FDA at announcing a big change impacting many of our companies and readers.
Please join us in congratulating all the reporters – and let’s go break some news!
