Apoorva Mandavilli

Apoorva Mandavilli is an award-winning investigative journalist at The New York Times specializing in medical science and global health. With dual Master's degrees in biochemistry (University of Wisconsin-Madison) and journalism (NYU), she joined the Times in May 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, having previously contributed as a regular writer. Mandavilli founded and led Spectrum for 13 years, an autism research publication that became part of The Transmitter, growing its audience to millions. She co-founded Culture Dish to promote diversity in science journalism and chaired the National Association of Science Writers' Diversity Committee. Her pandemic coverage contributed to the Times' 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, and she individually won the 2019 Victor Cohn Prize for Excellence in Medical Science Reporting. Recent reporting focuses on emerging health threats like H5N1 and policy challenges facing PEPFAR.