WSJ names new head of health coverage

Wall Street Journal managing editor Robert Thomson sent out the following announcement to the staff on Wednesday evening:

“We are delighted to announce that Stefanie Ilgenfritz, recently of Personal Journal, has become Bureau Chief of the New York-based health group. This is a vital role in which Stefanie will drive our coverage of the continuing debate about health care and costs, and their impact on patients, doctors, hospitals, employers and hypochondriacs. The group also oversees coverage of insurers, pharmaceuticals and other health companies, as well as science, Big and Small, and will contribute an increasing range of columns and articles for her old section, PJ.

“Stefanie is well suited to this role. She began her career at the Journal more than 19 years ago as a news assistant at the Monitor desk. She has worked at the Ticker, for the old regional editions, and Larry Rout’s Special Reports. She joined PJ in 2002, helped launch the sectuon and served as health editor before becoming deputy. She was an editor on two Pulitzer Prize-winning packages of health stories and had a stint at Page One. Stefanie is a graduate of the University of Michigan, and has a master’s degree in journalism from New York University. She reports to Matt Murray. We wish her all the best in covering this crucial area.”