Patricia Callahan
I’m a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter exploring how federal policies affect the health of vulnerable people.
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What I Cover
I’m reporting on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as it grapples with cuts in staff and funding and a new administration determined to end longstanding global health programs and collaboration.
My Background
For more than three decades, my stories about health and safety have prompted changes in laws and saved lives.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, ProPublica colleagues and I explored the anguish inside the CDC as, with breathtaking speed, the vaunted agency — the global gold standard for public health — became a target of anger, scorn and even pity. Many reporters had covered clashes between the first Trump administration and the agency’s scientists. But we wanted to tell a story that was more intimate and consequential: What happened when the CDC lost the public’s trust? What was it like for scientists ordered to go along with directives that ran counter to everything they believed? Our investigative narrative took readers inside as some employees rebelled and others acquiesced. We showed how this loss of trust could have serious repercussions, influencing whether people decide to get vaccinated or reflexively reject any recommendations from public health officials. Subsequent Congressional hearings drew heavily on our reporting, and the story was a centerpiece of the ProPublica pandemic coverage that was named a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize.
I joined ProPublica in 2018 after many years as a reporter on the Chicago Tribune’s investigative team. There I revealed how the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, with its myopic and docile approach to regulation, failed to protect children from injuries and death. This series, reported with my Tribune colleagues, prompted the biggest overhaul of product safety regulations in a generation, led to the recall of millions of toys and cribs and won a Pulitzer Prize.
My colleagues and I also exposed deceptive campaigns by the chemical and tobacco industries that brought toxic flame retardants into our homes and our bodies even though these harmful compounds don’t protect us from fires. The series led to a repeal of the rule responsible for the flame retardants packed into American furniture and was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize. My reporting was featured in two films, “Merchants of Doubt” and “Toxic Hot Seat.”
In addition, we showed how Illinois state officials steered low-income adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities into less-expensive, privately run group homes, then hid the resulting harm and deaths. That series, too, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
Earlier in my career, I was a lead reporter on the Denver Post team that won a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the Columbine High School massacre.
I graduated from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and was a Henry Luce Scholar in Thailand.
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Patricia Callahan
ProPublica
155 Avenue of the Americas, 13th Floor
New York, NY 10013
Inside the Fall of the CDC
How the world’s greatest public health organization was brought to its knees by a virus, the president and the capitulation of its own leaders, causing damage that could last much longer than the coronavirus.
How Amazon Hooked America On Fast Delivery While Avoiding Responsibility for Crashes
Our investigation found Amazon escapes responsibility for its role in deaths and serious injuries even though the company keeps a tight grip on how third-party delivery drivers do their jobs.
Evenflo, Maker of the “Big Kid” Booster Seat, Put Profits Over Child Safety
Internal video of side-impact tests shows that children could be injured or killed in Evenflo's “Big Kid” booster seats. But the company continued to market them as “side-impact tested.”
How Three Families Shielded Their Fortunes From Taxes for Generations
In the early 1900s some of the wealthiest Americans claimed their fortunes would never last through the generations. A century of tax avoidance later, the dynasties are going strong.
RFK Jr. Wants to Change a Program That Stopped Vaccine Makers From Leaving the U.S. Market. They Could Flee Again.
The Vaccine Injury Compensation Program stabilizes the nation’s childhood immunization system while paying those harmed by rare side effects. If the program topples, it could threaten access to vaccines.
Seven Things to Know About ProPublica’s Investigation of the FDA’s Secret Gamble on Generic Drugs
ProPublica spent 14 months investigating the FDA’s oversight of foreign drugmakers that send medications to the U.S. These are the key takeaways.
Threat in Your Medicine Cabinet: The FDA’s Gamble on America’s Drugs
A ProPublica investigation found that for more than a decade, the FDA gave substandard factories banned from the United States a special pass to keep sending drugs to an unsuspecting public.
An Indian Drugmaker, Investigated by ProPublica Last Year, Has Recalled Two Dozen Medications Sold to U.S. Patients
FDA inspectors found serious problems at a Glenmark factory in India that manufactured the recalled drugs. Another medication made there has been tied to deaths of U.S. patients.
“Not Just Measles”: Whooping Cough Cases Are Soaring as Vaccine Rates Decline
While much of the country is focused on the spiraling measles outbreak, experts warn that whooping cough and other preventable diseases could get much worse with falling vaccination rates and Trump’s slashing of public health infrastructure.
The CDC Buried a Measles Forecast That Stressed the Need for Vaccinations
The move — along with the CDC’s explanation — is a sign that the nation’s top public health agency may be falling in line under HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime critic of vaccines.
The FDA Finally Visited an Indian Drug Factory Linked to U.S. Deaths. It Found Problems.
The inspection comes after a ProPublica investigation revealed that drugs made at the Glenmark Pharmaceuticals plant accounted for an outsized share of U.S. recalls for pills that didn’t dissolve properly and could harm people.
The FDA Hasn’t Inspected This Drug Factory After 7 Recalls for the Same Flaw, 1 Potentially Deadly
Glenmark Pharmaceuticals issued seven recalls for pills that didn’t dissolve properly, records show. All were made at the same factory in India. But the FDA still hasn’t stopped the company from shipping other pills made there to the U.S.
House Introduces a Sweeping Booster Seat Safety Law to Protect Children in Car Crashes
The Booster Seat Safety Act was prompted by a ProPublica investigation and a subsequent congressional probe that found manufacturers had misled parents about the safety of booster seats and endangered children’s lives.
More Than Half of America’s 100 Richest People Exploit Special Trusts to Avoid Estate Taxes
Secret IRS records show billionaires use trusts that let them pass fortunes to their heirs without paying estate tax. Will Congress end a tax shelter that has cost the Treasury untold billions?