Our Staff
Charlene Pacenti EDITOR-IN-CHIEF cpacenti@healthbeat.org
Charlene Pacenti is Healthbeat’s inaugural Editor in Chief, leading editorial operations. She is a lifelong journalist, serving many years at The Miami Herald, where she managed teams covering breaking news, local schools and local governments, as well as digital startup projects, including a platform that grew into a thriving community and information source for South Florida parents. She also led a newsroom turnaround for United Press International, including national health coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic. She is a graduate of the Grady School of Journalism & Mass Communication at the University of Georgia. She lives in South Florida.
Eliza Fawcett NEW YORK CITY REPORTER efawcett@healthbeat.org
Eliza Fawcett is Healthbeat’s local reporter in New York City. Before joining Healthbeat, Eliza reported on national news as a fellow for The New York Times and covered public health for the Hartford Courant. Her work has also appeared in New York Focus, the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. She lives in Brooklyn.
Rebecca Grapevine ATLANTA REPORTER rgrapevine@healthbeat.org
Born and raised in Atlanta, Rebecca Grapevine is back home as a Healthbeat local reporter. Influenced by her hometown and extensive travels, she became fascinated by public health while working in hospitals in India and Atlanta. She got her start as a journalist writing for Georgia Health News and KFF Health News. She has also reported for the Atlanta Business Chronicle, Capitol Beat News Service and the Louisville Courier Journal. Along the way, Rebecca earned a Ph.D. in history from the University of Michigan and learned to speak Hindi.
Amy Maxmen NATIONAL REPORTER amym@kff.org
As a public health correspondent at KFF Health News, Amy Maxmen is Healthbeat’s national reporter. She has worked as a senior reporter at Nature covering health inequities, global health, infectious diseases, and genomics. She’s also written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Bloomberg Businessweek, National Geographic, and many other outlets. Maxmen’s work has garnered awards such as a Victor Cohn Prize for Excellence in Medical Science Reporting, and an AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Award. She was the 2022-23 Edward R. Murrow Press fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, a 2020 Knight Science Journalism at MIT fellow, and the recipient of several grants from the Pulitzer Center that allowed her to report on outbreaks in Myanmar, Sierra Leone, Sudan, and elsewhere. She earned a Ph.D. from Harvard University in evolutionary biology. She lives in New York City.
Mariah Espada ENGAGEMENT EDITOR mespada@healthbeat.org
Mariah Espada is a founding engagement editor at Healthbeat. She has worked as an editorial audience fellow at Axios and a culture reporter at TIME, where she also contributed to their social video strategy. She is a graduate of American University, with internship experience at CNN, CBS, FOX, and Voice of America. She lives in New York City.
Dr. Céline Gounder EDITOR AT LARGE celineg@kff.org
Dr. Céline Gounder is a senior fellow and editor-at-large for public health at Healthbeat’s partner, KFF Health News. She is the creator and host of “American Diagnosis,” a podcast on health and social justice, and “Epidemic,” a podcast about infectious diseases. An internist, infectious disease specialist, and epidemiologist, she volunteers on the wards at NYC Health + Hospitals’ Bellevue Hospital, which is affiliated with NYU Grossman School of Medicine. She is a CBS News Medical Contributor. She has served as an assistant commissioner of health in New York City. From 1998 to 2012, she studied tuberculosis and HIV in South Africa, Lesotho, Malawi, Ethiopia, and Brazil. Céline also served on the Biden-Harris Transition COVID-19 Advisory Board. She lives in New York City.
Our Partners
KFF Health News
KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism. Check out their award-winning investigations and stories. KFF Health News provides national reporting on public health to Healthbeat.
Your Local Epidemiologist
Your Local Epidemiologist is a newsletter founded by Katelyn Jetelina, an epidemiologist, data scientist, wife, and mom, that “translates” public health science for the general public. She holds a master’s degree in public health and a PhD in epidemiology and biostatistics. Her team will soon begin contributing to Healthbeat.
Healthbeat is a subsidiary of Civic News Company, and is fully supported by Civic News Company's leadership, revenue, strategy, and operations teams. See the full staff list here.