The Center for Health Journalism announces 2025 Data Fellows
The USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism is delighted to announce the selection of 17 talented journalists who will be participating in our 2025 Data Fellowship.
This year’s fellowship class includes journalists from state and local outlets from across the nation, including The Tampa Bay Times, Gulf States Newsroom, Texas Observer, Lewiston Tribune, MassLive, Duluth News Tribune, WGBH Boston and MLK 50.
The program also includes journalists reporting on California-focused projects for publications such as the Los Angeles Times, Modesto Bee, Bay Area News Group, KVPR and Mission Local.
The competitive Data Fellowship program equips reporters to use the power of original data analysis to investigate health care, health equity and child well-being and child welfare system challenges, and to highlight promising paths forward. The six-month program includes a multi-day in-person training and five months of ongoing virtual training and mentorship with some of the nation’s most respected data journalists.
Fact-based journalism is more important than ever in a time when rumor and misinformation have caused so much harm to the health and well-being of our communities. Our Data Fellowship is building critical skills that will help journalists provide unique insights that can only be gleaned through original analysis and new skills.
In partnership with the Center for Health Journalism, reporters in this year’s Data Fellowship will produce ambitious data-informed news projects on topics such as California’s homelessness crisis, overdose deaths, food insecurity for families amidst changes in SNAP policy and challenges in juvenile justice and foster care systems as well as a data-informed examination of treatment of substance use disorders. Data projects also will investigate the use of opioid settlement funds to help families split apart by the nation’s opioid crisis and the impacts of marijuana legalization on youth and families.
The 2025 Data Fellowship is generously funded by grants from the California Health Care Foundation, the Doris Duke Foundation and The California Endowment.
"Data-driven journalism is essential to understanding the complex health challenges facing Californians and communities across the nation,” said Eric Antebi, Director of Communications for the California Health Care Foundation. “We look forward to the important stories this talented group will tell."
“Strong journalism that illuminates how systems affect children and families is essential to creating a fairer, more prevention-focused child welfare system,” said Jodi Hill-Lilly, Program Director for Child Well-Being at the Doris Duke Foundation. “The Doris Duke Foundation is proud to support journalists who use data to uncover inequities, surface hidden barriers, and catalyze change rooted in dignity, community, and care.”
We are pleased to announce our 2025 Data Fellows:
Audrey Brown, San Francisco Public Press
Drew Hawkins, Gulf States Newsroom
Jimmy Lovrien, Duluth News Tribune
Luis Melecio-Zambrano, Bay Area News Group
Abigail Vân Neely, Mission Local
Kathleen Quinn, The Modesto Bee
Teghan Simonton, Tampa Bay Times
Ethan Varian, Bay Area News Group