![Sh2022 Branswell Helen](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/3b705d58-25aa-4bc7-be1d-b70d0b35ddfb/SH2022_Branswell_Helen.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=456%2C0%2C2113%2C2113&w=290)
Helen Branswell
Senior Writer, Infectious Diseases and Global Health, STAT
Helen Branswell is a senior writer at STAT, covering infectious diseases and global health. Branswell won the 2020 George Polk Award for Public Service and, with colleagues, was a 2020 Pulitzer Prize finalist for breaking news for coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic. She won the 2021 Victor Cohn Prize for Excellence in Medical Science Reporting. Prior to joining STAT at its 2015 launch, Branswell was a medical reporter for The Canadian Press for many years. She was a 2011 Nieman Global Health Fellow at Harvard, focusing on polio eradication and was a 2004 CDC Knight Fellow, when she embedded in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for three months.
Previously
![Can We Put the Pandemic Behind Us?](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/603477d6-5125-440f-9f26-3e0adf768222/52171929963_5577db0cc9_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C0%2C8256%2C4646&w=400)
Sixty percent of American adults, and 75 percent of children, have been infected with SARS-CoV2. Coupled with immunity-boosting vaccines and medical progress, rates of severe...
![Explainer: Helen Branswell on Monkeypox](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/037a51ea-c0ef-47e4-a0af-a3f51195ca00/52172406140_0eeddae1f5_o1.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C1286%2C5504%2C3091&w=400)
The latest infectious disease scare: Should we be alarmed?
![Ensuring COVID Vaccinations for All](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/be0fa77c-e7c8-4a2f-bfef-900bfb8c6ecf/52168472140_90d7ce6d39_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C222%2C5744%2C3237&w=400)
Eighteen months after a COVID-19 vaccine became available, high-income countries had administered more than 200 doses per 100 people; in low-income countries, the figure was a...
![Bringing New Drugs to the World](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/null8508ba3c-bdb9-4aad-b8b6-88511758799f/27799139492_c2c108527b_h.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C0%2C1600%2C899&w=400)
Pharmaceutical advances are expanding, with some exciting new drugs already on the market and others ready to emerge from the pipeline. These therapeutics offer fresh hope fo...