In her reporting, Katie specializes in untangling complex social issues with no easy answers. These issues so far have included public health, environmental health, and the homelessness crisis. Her interest in covering these topics grew out of her time at Ohio University, where she studied journalism and Spanish. She was part of the Special Projects team for the college newspaper and also reported on mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia for the town’s alternative weekly.
Katie is a member of Investigative Reporters and Editors, the Society of Environmental Journalists, and the Association of Health Care Journalists. The Solutions Journalism Network has featured her stories, and recently, “Rising Concerns,” Katie’s piece about where flooding and sewage treatment meet (and how both impact people’s health) was a finalist for climate change reporting in the Chicago Headline Club’s Peter Lisagor Awards.
For Katie’s four-part series about America’s unhoused older adults, Katie visited Chicago’s parks. There, she interviewed unhoused people in English and Spanish. She wove their stories together with those of people working on the issue, reflecting the current state of homelessness in the city.
Before joining the team at Northwest Publishing, Katie wrote the biography of Janet Rowley, MD. Rowley’s work revolutionized the way people think about and treat cancer today. She made multiple groundbreaking discoveries in the 1970s, illuminating the elusive but critical link between cancer and genetics. Janet’s revelation that a specific exchange — translocation — caused some types of leukemia led to the development of one of the most effective cancer therapies available to this day and laid the groundwork for discovering others.
Without a doubt, being an editor has made Katie a better writer and reporter. She enjoys working with Chicago Health’s and Caregiving’s writers to bring important stories to life. With each story, she strives to battle misinformation and give readers access to the information they need to make informed choices.
Website: katiehappens.com
