Washington bureau chief Dick Stevenson sent out the following at The New York Times:
The formation this spring of our new team covering health policy has come at a time when ideological disputes around health and science proliferate, new risks to public health emerge on a regular basis and the Trump administration upends policy on vaccines, pandemics, insurance coverage and more.
We’re fortunate to have Hilary Stout, a talented and creative editor with a strong background covering both Washington and health, leading this new team. Her remarkable lineup of reporters includes Sheryl Stolberg, Christina Jewett, Sarah Kliff, Apoorva Mandavilli, Stephanie Nolen and Jan Hoffman. Together, they are already demonstrating the commitment of The Times to broadening and deepening our coverage of this essential topic by breaking news, producing rich explanatory and investigative pieces, writing about the politics of health care and documenting the human impact of health policy.
Their recent pieces include reporting on Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy’s ongoing inquiry into vaccine safety and his lack of hands-on managerial engagement in running the sprawling department. They have examined the government’s handling of the recent Ebola outbreak from many angles while also reporting on the hantavirus. They reported on the F.D.A. commissioner’s resignation amid pressure to authorize flavored vapes and the tobacco industry’s well-funded lobbying campaign on that issue. They have covered how doctors cash in on a consumer protection law to collect extremely high fees, how autism clinics squeeze Medicaid dollars out of preschoolers and an abortion pill lawsuit that has left Trump silent and in a political bind. They’ve written powerfully about the rising AIDS cases in parts of Zambia, a year after the U.S. reduced funding for H.I.V. programs, and a Knoxville medical examiner chasing down lethal new opioids infiltrating street drugs.
It is hard to imagine anyone better qualified than Hilary to drive our health policy reporting and integrate the work of her talented staff into the Washington bureau.
Before joining The Times, Hilary worked as a reporter and editor at The Wall Street Journal for nearly two decades, including as a Washington correspondent reporting on the Clinton White House, health care and economics. She also spent two years as a senior editor at Portfolio, a Condé Nast business magazine.
After joining The Times in 2011, she proved an invaluable editor on multiple desks. She started as an assistant editor on Styles and quickly moved to National, where as deputy editor she helped shape coverage of events including the Boston Marathon bombings and the rollout of Obamacare. She joined BizDay as a reporter in 2013, and two years later moved back to editing as a deputy science editor. As deputy science editor for health over the last decade, she was a terrific leader on major storylines from the first Trump administration to Covid to the second Trump administration.
Reporting on health policy and its ramifications for the nation and world has never been more pressing. We look forward to following what Hilary and her powerhouse reporting team produce. It’s already off to an excellent start.
