Caroline Chen
Caroline Chen was a national reporter for ProPublica covering health care.
Need to Get in Touch?
Caroline Chen previously covered health care for ProPublica. She has written about public health, hospitals, drugmakers and clinical trials, highlighting disparities in patient access, broken funding models and abuses of power.
Her 2020 coverage of the coronavirus pandemic included investigations into the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s early failures to contain the outbreak, vaccine inequities and distortion of COVID-19 data. Her work was part of ProPublica’s coverage recognized as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Public Service.
Her 2019 stories on a heart transplant program in New Jersey that prioritized metrics over patient care won the Livingston Award for local reporting. Her story on racial disparities in cancer clinical trials with Riley Wong in 2018 won the June L. Biedler Prize for Cancer Journalism in online/multimedia reporting.
Her writing has appeared in publications including The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine and NPR. Previously, she worked at Bloomberg News, where her coverage included the unraveling of blood test maker Theranos and the 2014 Ebola outbreak. She received her master’s degree from the Toni Stabile Program for Investigative Journalism at Columbia University, where she was awarded a Pulitzer traveling fellowship.
The Enraging Deja Vu of a Third Coronavirus Wave
Health care workers don’t need patronizing praise. They need resources, federal support, and for us to stay healthy and out of their hospitals. In many cases, none of that is happening.
by Caroline Chen,
Most States Aren’t Ready to Distribute the Leading COVID-19 Vaccine
A review of state distribution plans reveals that officials don’t know how they’ll deal with the difficult storage and transport requirements of Pfizer’s vaccine, especially in the rural areas currently seeing a spike in infections.
by Isaac Arnsdorf, Ryan Gabrielson and Caroline Chen,
Electionland de ProPublica: El estado del Día de las Elecciones de 2020
En una elección histórica marcada por una pandemia, el voto por correo y la desinformación, los funcionarios electorales se esfuerzan por adaptarse. Esto es lo que los reporteros nacionales de ProPublica están viendo en todo el país. El artículo será actualizado a lo largo del día
por Caroline Chen, Jack Gillum, Derek Willis, Isaac Arnsdorf, Maryam Jameel, Jessica Huseman y Ryan McCarthy,
ProPublica’s Electionland: The State of Election Day 2020
In a historic election shaped by a pandemic, mail-in voting and misinformation, election officials are scrambling to adapt. Here’s what ProPublica’s national reporters are seeing across the country. This post will be updated throughout the day.
by Caroline Chen, Jack Gillum, Derek Willis, Isaac Arnsdorf, Maryam Jameel, Jessica Huseman and Ryan McCarthy,
Leader of Newark Beth Israel’s Troubled Heart Transplant Program Departs
Dr. Mark Zucker was put on administrative leave after ProPublica showed he told staff to keep a heart transplant patient on life support because of concerns about survival stats. Now Newark Beth Israel will seek a new leader for the program.
by Caroline Chen,
Who Decides When Vaccine Studies Are Done? Internal Documents Show Fauci Plays a Key Role.
Dr. Anthony Fauci will see data from government-funded vaccine trials before the FDA does. One caveat: Pfizer’s study, which is ahead of the others, isn’t included in his purview.
by Isaac Arnsdorf, Caroline Chen and Ryan Gabrielson,
How to Tell a Political Stunt From a Real Vaccine
There is a small chance that Pfizer’s vaccine trial will yield results by Nov. 3. But it could still take weeks for FDA review. Here’s everything that has to happen and how to tell a political stunt from a real vaccine.
by Caroline Chen, Isaac Arnsdorf and Ryan Gabrielson,
Help Us Report on COVID-19 Vaccines
The development and deployment of a vaccine will affect everybody on the planet. Help us identify and tell important stories.
by Caroline Chen, Ryan Gabrielson and Isaac Arnsdorf,
America Doesn’t Have a Coherent Strategy for Asymptomatic Testing. It Needs One.
While it battles a virus that can spread quickly via silent carriers, the United States has yet to execute a strategy for testing asymptomatic people. This is a problem — and ProPublica health reporter Caroline Chen explains why.
by Caroline Chen,
¿Son seguras las escuelas y las universidades en Estados Unidos? ¿Los alumnos realmente aprenden? Ayúdenos a saber más.
ProPublica está cubriendo la reapertura de escuelas, colegios superiores y universidades durante COVID-19 y necesitamos su ayuda. Cuéntenos acerca de la seguridad, el ámbito académico, las colegiaturas y el acceso al aprendizaje.
por Beena Raghavendran, Caroline Chen, Annie Waldman y Jodi S. Cohen,