Corey Johnson is a reporter on ProPublica’s national team.

Johnson previously was an investigative reporter at the Tampa Bay Times, where he led a project that revealed how Florida’s only lead smelter endangered hundreds of workers and polluted the surrounding community. The three-part series, “Poisoned,” forced immediate safety improvements, prompted record fines and resulted in strengthened oversight. The work won many of the nation’s most prestigious honors, including the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting, the George Polk Award, the Gerald Loeb Award, the IRE Gold Medal, the Worth Bingham Prize, a News Leader Association Award, a National Headliner Award, and a Salute to Excellence Award from the National Association of Black Journalists.

Johnson’s other stories have exposed dangerous amounts of lead in the drinking water of Florida schools; outed troubled doctors in the state’s medical marijuana program; and unraveled a church leader’s embezzlement of government and philanthropic funds.

Before the Times, Johnson worked at The Marshall Project. There, he examined the harsh sentencing of Black juveniles, triggering the release of a Baton Rouge, Louisiana, man who had been imprisoned for over 20 years and was doomed to die behind bars.

While at the Center for Investigative Reporting in California, Johnson uncovered hundreds of illegal and coercive sterilization surgeries inside the state women’s prisons. The revelations sparked legislative hearings, a state investigation, referrals for criminal prosecution, a ban on future procedures and, recently, a reparations program for victims. He also unearthed decades of state failures resulting in weak earthquake protections at thousands of public schools.

Corey is a co-founder of the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting, which trains and supports aspiring and mid-career journalists of color. Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, he is a proud graduate of Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, Florida.