Bloomberg News makes changes to US health team

Bloomberg News managing editor for company news in the Americas Crayton Harrison sent out the following announcement on Tuesday about changes to its U.S. health team:

Our U.S. Health team has had a tremendous year, consistently delivering scoops with real impact and enterprise that shapes the conversation during what may be the most memorable news event of our lifetimes. It has been a huge effort that’s required the dedication and hard work of every member of the team — and many adopted members as well.

It’s also a testament to the leadership of the team, with Drew Armstrong and Tim Annett marshaling resources across the newsroom to step up our pandemic coverage. I’m thrilled to announce today that Tim will be stepping up as the new team leader for Health now that Drew is moving to a senior editor role, as Brian Bremner announced a few weeks ago. We also have happy news to report on Michelle Fay Cortez and John Lauerman.

Since joining us three years ago from the Wall Street Journal, Tim has shown he can do it all — whip a breaking story into shape, turn a complicated subject into an easy-to-digest read-all, work with reporters on a competitive and investigative story like the Juul/vaping saga, and develop creative new ways to serve our readers, like the coronavirus newsletter. Tim is passionate about making sure we’re finding the right ways to present our news to readers, whether they’re on the terminal or visiting us through a mobile alert. He also has a strong background in markets and finance that will help us follow the money in the industry. Tim spent almost 17 years at WSJ and five years before that at the St. Pete Times. He’s a pro, through and through, and he’s ready to take this team to the next level.

Michelle, whose stellar work this year enriched our understanding of the coronavirus and the emerging treatments for it, is now a senior reporter on the Health team. As you know, this title is reserved only for journalists who have shown a consistent ability to break news, write the big-picture story, come up with innovative ideas, and mentor others. She’s been with Bloomberg for 28 years, with stints in DC and London before her current home in Minneapolis. Michelle’s reporting this year alone has raised questions about the accuracy of Abbott’s rapid virus test, explained why antibodies may not be enough to protect us, given us a harrowing picture of what ventilators do to the human body, and walked through Gilead’s pricing dilemma. And beyond that, she’s helped countless other reporters, on the team and elsewhere in the newsroom, to understand how to write about science with precision and sensitivity.

John is returning to the U.S. Health team after three years as a hybrid editor/reporter in London. Many of you know him and work with him regularly already — he’s an experienced health and science writer who understands storytelling and narrative. John has also been with Bloomberg for 18 years. He’ll continue his hybrid role in Boston, a bastion of biotech and cutting-edge research where it’ll be great for the team to have a presence again.

I’d like to take this occasion to also thank Heather Smith, who’s been embedded with the Health team as an editor for the past few months and has been an integral part of our success. Heather is moving to a new role on the TOP team, which is terrific for her and sad for us, but we’re grateful for the energy, poise and thoughtfulness she brought to our coverage, and know she’ll be an advocate for our work in her new perch.

I also want to once again recognize the contributions of Drew, who spent the past 4 1/2 years building the team to elite-level status, developing the Prognosis platform and then coordinating across the newsroom when our pandemic coverage called for a response bigger than any one team could possibly handle. Now in his new capacity as a senior editor reporting to Brian, he’ll be able to focus on some of our highest priorities for reporting and editing on a global basis while exploring new ways we can extend our Prognosis coverage.

Combined, these moves put us in great position to build on our progress and make Bloomberg News the premier outlet for coverage of the health care industry. Please join me in congratulating Tim, Michelle, John, Heather and Drew.