Usha Lee McFarling named director Science Journalism Program at MIT
- Slider
Arun Kumar- 0
- 3 minutes read
Screenshot
Indian American Pulitzer-prize winning journalist to manage an elite mid-career fellowship program for science journalists from around the world
By Arun Kumar
Indian American Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Usha Lee McFarling, national science correspondent for STAT, will be joining the Knight Science Journalism Program (KSJ) at MIT in August as the next director.
A former KSJ Fellow, McFarling will play a central role in helping to manage KSJ — an elite mid-career fellowship program that brings prominent science journalists from around the world for 10 months of study and intellectual exploration at MIT, Harvard University, and other institutions in the Boston area, according to a media release.
READ: Rajendra and Neera Singh pledge $3.5 million for Maine scholars (May 16th, 2025)
“I’m eager to take the helm during this critical time for science journalism, a time when journalism is under attack both politically and economically and misinformation — especially in areas of science and health — is rife,” says McFarling. “My goal is for the program to find even more ways to support our field and its practitioners as they carry on their important work.”
McFarling is a veteran science writer, most recently working for STAT News. She previously reported for the Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, Knight Ridder Washington Bureau, and the San Antonio Light, and was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow in 1992-93.
McFarling graduated from Brown University with a degree in biology in 1988 and later earned a master’s degree in biological psychology from the University of California at Berkeley.
Her work on the diseased state of the world’s oceans earned the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for explanatory journalism and a Polk Award, among others. Her coverage of health disparities at STAT has earned an Edward R. Murrow award, and awards from the Association of Health Care Journalists, and the Asian American Journalists Association.
In 2024, she was awarded the Victor Cohn prize for excellence in medical science reporting and the Bernard Lo, MD award in bioethics.
McFarling will succeed director Deborah Blum, who served as director for 10 years.
She will join the board of Undark, a magazine she helped found while at KSJ, and continue as a board member of the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, among others.