HealthDay Editors and Reporters

News happens. Great writing makes it memorable.
Last Updated: July 1, 2011

A force of more than 30 reporters and editors, many of them recipients of prestigious journalism awards, create HealthDay news for consumers and Physician's Briefing professional news on a daily basis.

Jeff Walsh is Executive Editor—Walsh has more than 30 years' journalism experience, most of them with the Gannett Company. He held a number of reporting and senior editing positions with the Gannett Westchester newspaper group in the northern suburbs of New York City.

George Giokas is Chairman and Special Projects Director—George, one of the original founders of HealthDay, has 30 years in journalism including as executive news editor at Newsday and owner of StaffWriters Plus Inc., a company specializing in customized editorial assignments.

Dr. Cynthia Haines (Dr. Cindy Haines) is HealthDay's Chief Medical Officer—Dr. Cynthia Haines also is the managing editor of HealthDay's Physician's Briefing daily wire service, and she heads up the company's physician-directed content division. It provides a variety of services for client Internet sites, all involving medical content being reviewed by board-certified doctors. Other Chief Medical Officer duties include overseeing a process to ensure the medical accuracy of all HealthDay content and representing the company as its physician spokesperson to the public and professional medical community. Follow Dr. Cindy Haines on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.

E.J. (Ernie) Mundell is Managing Editor, Consumer News—Mundell's experience as a journalist began 10 years ago as a staff writer at Reuters Health, where he later became managing editor for the consumer health news division. His work has also appeared on MSNBC, in Gannett newspapers, The Scientist, and elsewhere. A graduate of McGill University, he worked in film and television production before making the switch to journalism.

Robin Foster is Senior Editor—Foster has 20 years of experience in journalism, including editing stints at a Times-Mirror newspaper in Connecticut and a Times-Journal daily in Washington D.C. Before that, she was a reporter at The Orlando Sentinel. She has been with HealthDay since 2000, both as a reporter and an editor.

Linda Searing is Senior Editor—Searing's 38 years of editing credentials include the Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, USA Today and the Boston Herald. In addition, she has written a weekly medical column for the Post for the past five years, and was managing editor for the medical journal publisher Wolters Kluwer / Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. She has worked with HealthDay since 2000.

Margaret Farley Steele is News Editor—Steele has more than 30 years' experience as an editor and reporter, including 13 years at The (NY) Daily News, where she was lifestyle editor. She began her career at the Daily Record in Morris County, NJ. She also edited Lamaze Baby and Lamaze Parents magazines and contributed to The New York Times and Connecticut Magazine.

Marianne Madeiros is Copy Editor—Madeiros has 20 years experience as a proofreader and copy editor. Her freelance projects have ranged from medical journals to magazines. While employed at Reuters Health, she was introduced to the fast-paced world of Web-based news and has been working online ever since. Originally from New York, she now lives in Massachusetts and happily works for HealthDay from her home in Quincy.

Barry Hoffman is Founding Editor—Hoffman has more than 40 years' experience in wire service, broadcast and newspaper journalism. He has held top editorial and general management positions with Gannett and Times Mirror and is past president of the New York State Associated Press Association. News staffs under his direction have won more than 300 national and regional awards, including the national Headliner's Award for public service, the Associated Press Managing Editors' award for in-depth reporting, and The Society of Professional Journalists award for enterprise reporting.

Jean Patman is Consulting Editor—Patman is the former managing editor of HealthDay whose extensive journalism experience includes directing Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage for Newsday when she was foreign editor. Before that, she was the newspaper's executive news editor. Later in her career she was features editor of the Los Angeles Times and oversaw the feature section's redesign. Her news career spans more than 25 years and includes editing positions at Gannett newspapers and the New York Post.

Scott Roberts is Director of Technology—Roberts began his journalism career with Gannett as a reporter in the New York City suburbs. He also worked in hospital public relations before he joined the burgeoning Prodigy Services Corp. as a senior editor in 1988. He quickly moved over to the technical side as senior producer, and joined HealthDay in 1999 in a similar capacity. Roberts oversees all technical aspects of HealthDay's transmissions to its clients.

Steven Reinberg—Reinberg, HealthDay's senior staff reporter, is an award-winning health journalist who has written for both consumer and professional audiences. A former reporter with Reuters Health, his work has appeared in The Scientist and other publications.

HealthDay uses more than 50 freelance reporters; here are some regulars:

Rick Ansorge—Ansorge has covered since 1993 health and fitness for the Internet, books and newspapers. He has won awards from the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology and the National Association for Healthcare Recruitment.

Stephanie Brown—Brown is a writer and editor with more than 10 years of experience in the health care industry. Having worked in both the United Kingdom and the United States, she enjoys editing the latest medical research for Physician’s Briefing from her home in St. Louis.

Kathleen Doheny—Doheny is a Los Angeles-based journalist specializing in health, fitness and behavior topics. She has written for the Los Angeles Times, Shape magazine, Fit Pregnancy, Modern Maturity and My Generation. She teaches magazine writing at UCLA Extension.

Randy Dotinga—Dotinga, a reporter with almost a decade of experience, became West Coast correspondent for the former crime news Web site APB.com. His articles have won many awards, including first place for news reporting from the California Newspaper Publishers Association.

Ed Edelson—Edelson was science editor for the New York Daily News for 20 years, and has written more than 20 books on health and medical issues. He's been reporting for HealthDay since the company began.

Amanda Gardner—Gardner is an award-winning writer whose credentials include medical and feature writing for the New York Daily News, The New York Times, Time Out and Self magazine. She earned a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Studies from Union Institute and University in Cincinnati.

Beth Gilbert—Gilbert is a health and science writer who provides content for both consumer and professional audiences. She has an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from Lehigh University and a Master's in biomedical engineering from Columbia University.

Jenifer Goodwin—Goodwin, an Orange County, Calif.-based writer, has won numerous national writing awards for features and news reporting. She is a former staff writer at the San Diego Union-Tribune and now writes for a variety of trade and consumer publications.

Serena Gordon—Gordon is a New York-area journalist who joined the HealthDay team in 1999. She has almost 15 years of writing experience, and her work appears regularly in national magazines such as ePregnancy and Energy for Women.

Lindsey Marcellin—Marcellin is a physician, medical writer and editor. She earned her M.D. degree at Eastern Virginia Medical School, and has a Master's degree in public health from Johns Hopkins University, with a concentration in infectious diseases and international health.

Andrea Mongler—Mongler is a writer and editor who focuses on the health care industry. She received a degree in agricultural journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia and previously was special sections editor at the St. Louis Business Journal.

Alan Mozes—Mozes is a New York-based journalist who has covered Africa, Asia and the United States as a freelancer for Reuters Health. He has also written for Gannett News, TimeOut NY, and Cargo, and was a featured online columnist for Gather.com.

Jeff Muise—Muise is a former newspaper and magazine journalist with 25 years' experience writing about health care. For the past dozen years, he has written content for scores of health care Web sites.

Karen Pallarito—Pallarito is a veteran health writer specializing in medical care, health policy, and health business coverage. A former senior reporter with Reuters Health, her work now appears in The Washington Post and in various trade publications.

Robert Preidt—Preidt is an Ontario-based writer and photographer with 20 years' newspaper and magazine experience. His news stories, features and photographs, which have won numerous awards, have appeared in the Toronto Star, the Medical Post and Family Practice magazine.

Madeline Vann—Vann has covered science, health and medical issues for more than a decade. She has a Master's in Public Health from Tulane University. Her writing has appeared in publications including the New Orleans Times-Picayune, The Huntsville Times, and the San Antonio Current.