Reporter
WBEZ Chicago
Kristen Schorsch is a reporter at WBEZ Chicago, where she specializes in public health. Her stories can be heard and read across the country as part of a national collaboration with NPR and KFF Health News. A journalist for more than 20 years, Kristen has won more than 20 local and national awards for her work. Her stories have sparked policy changes and spurred investigations. One of her investigations was featured in two books about inequality in Chicago. As a fellow with the Association of Health Care Journalists, Kristen documented the near closure of the oldest hospital in Chicago, uncovering how the decision flooded other hospital ERs with patients, contributed to the vanishing of yet another labor and delivery unit and tore at the heart of a community that long felt ignored. She was part of the Mental Health Parity Newsroom Collaborative, where she examined the emotional toll migrants face and the army of helpers filling in the gaps of a frayed mental health system. Most recently she investigated the 20-year life expectancy gap in Chicago and how generations of families and community leaders are working to close it, as a fellow with the Center for Health Journalism at the University of Southern California. Kristen is a graduate of the University of Illinois and helped co-found FOIAFest, an annual journalism conference about public records and transparency.
Innovative Approaches to Community-Informed Reporting
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