William Heisel

Contributing Editor

I have reported on health for most of my career. My work as an investigative reporter at the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register exposed problems with the fertility industry, the trade in human body parts and the use of illegal drugs in sports. I helped create a first-of-its-kind report card judging hospitals on a wide array of measures for a story that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. I was one of the lead reporters on a series of stories about lead in candy, a series that also was a finalist for the Pulitzer. For the University of Washington, I work as the Director of Global Services for IHME Client Services. For Reporting On Health, I write about investigative health reporting and occasionally break news on my blog, Antidote. I also was the project editor on the Just One Breath series. You can follow me on Twitter @wheisel.

Articles

(Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

To stop the pandemic, we need to fight the infodemic at the same time

Why journalists need to do more to prevent the spread of disinformation by calling out the sources and the spreaders.

Patient receives vaccination

With vaccines rolling out, pay attention to that second dose

It's worth paying special attention to how many people complete the two-dose COVID-19 vaccination regimen.

Health Insurance and Costs

Healthcare Regulation and Reform

Patient Safety and Ethics

(Photo by TravelingOtter via Flickr/Creative Commons)

What festering environmental threats warrant investigation near you?

Contributor Bill Heisel outlines three things you can do to put together an investigation of environmental threats near you.

Poverty and Class

Environmental Health

Healthcare Regulation and Reform

Community Safety

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has been critical of his neighbors. “One of the reasons we have such jammed up hospitals in Spokane i

Are neighboring states making your state’s COVID-19 outbreak better or worse?

Story ideas from the shared boder and ideological gulf between Washington and Idaho.

(Photo by Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)

Story idea: Compare your area to these counties after COVID-19 policy shifts

Post-election shifts in COVID-19 policies offer reporters a great opportunity for compare-and-contrast stories.

Environmental Health

Healthcare Regulation and Reform

Community Safety

A mortician assistant and embalmer prepare a funeral service for a man who died in August of COVID-19 at Ray Williams Funeral Ho

Find out who is counting the dead — and why that matters

Asking the question of who is counting deaths in your area can help audiences understand whether COVID-19 deaths may be overcounted or undercounted.

Healthcare Regulation and Reform

Patient Safety and Ethics

(Photo: Fred Dufour/AFP via Getty Images)

Tap these FDA recall reports to find the dangers lurking inside our own bodies

There is a wealth of information on medical devices. Here’s a quick tutorial to help get you started on some investigative stories.

Healthcare Regulation and Reform

Community Safety

Patient Safety and Ethics

(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

How are homes in wildland areas driving up the fire danger?

Many areas were zoned for homes decades or even centuries before our current understanding of wildfire risk.

Environmental Health

Poverty and Class

Housing and Homeslessness

Patient Safety and Ethics

(Photo by Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images)

Now is the time for critical background reporting on your local health department

Before the vaccines start to arrive in various jurisdictions, explain to your audience the character of your county and state health officials.

Healthcare Regulation and Reform

Community Safety

Patient Safety and Ethics

(Photo by Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images)

The wildfires terrorizing the West aren’t going away, but good reporting can help

Reporters can help us understand what has happened — and what hasn’t — over the past two decades. The stakes are immense.

Environmental Health