Sheri Fink is an American journalist who writes about health, medicine and science. She received the 2010

Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting The Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting has been awarded since 1953, under one name or another, for a distinguished example of investigative reporting by an individual or team, presented as a single article or series in a U.S. news publicat ...

"for a story that chronicles the urgent life-and-death decisions made by one hospital’s exhausted doctors when they were cut off by the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina". She was also a member of ''The New York Times'' reporting team that received the 2015

Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting This Pulitzer Prize has been awarded since 1942 for a distinguished example of reporting on international affairs, including United Nations correspondence. In its first six years (1942–1947), it was called the Pulitzer Prize for Telegraphic R ...

for coverage of the 2014

Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa The 2013–2016 epidemic of Ebola virus disease, centered in Western Africa, was the most widespread outbreak of the disease in history. It caused major loss of life and socioeconomic disruption in the region, mainly in Guinea, Liberia and S ...

. Team members named by The Times were Pam Belluck,

Helene Cooper Helene Cooper (born April 22, 1966) is a Liberian-born American journalist who is a Pentagon correspondent for ''The New York Times''. Before that, she was the paper's White House correspondent in Washington, D.C. She joined the ''Times'' in 2004 ...

, Fink, Adam Nossiter,

Norimitsu Onishi is a Japanese Canadian journalist. He is a Paris correspondent for the ''New York Times'', after holding the position as Bureau Chief in Johannesburg, Jakarta, Tokyo and Abidjan. He was a member of ''The New York Times'' reporting team that r ...

Kevin Sack Kevin Sack, an American journalist, is a senior reporter for ''The New York Times''. Sack shared a Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 2001 for a ''New York Times'' series on race. While at The Los Angeles Times, he received the 2003 Pulitzer ...

, and Ben C. Solomon. As of April 2014, Fink is a staff reporter for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''.

Early life and education

Fink was born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

. In 1990, Fink graduated from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

with a degree in psychology. Fink received a Ph.D. in

Neuroscience Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions and disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, development ...

in 1998 and an M.D. in 1999 from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

. Fink went to assist refugees on the Kosovo-Macedonia border during the war in Kosovo instead of attending her medical school graduation.

Career

After graduating from college, Fink became involved in humanitarian aid work in disaster and war zones with the

International Medical Corps International Medical Corps is a global, nonprofit, humanitarian aid organization that provides emergency medical services, healthcare training and capacity building to those affected by disaster, disease or conflict." It seeks to strengthen med ...

, including

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...

, Macedonia and

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

. She also developed a career in journalism. Fink is a senior fellow with

Harvard Humanitarian Initiative The Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI) is an interfaculty Harvard University initiative dedicated to advancing research, practice, and policy in the field of humanitarian assistance. HHI's mission is "to relieve human suffering in war and disa ...

, a senior Future Tense fellow at

New America Foundation New America, formerly the New America Foundation, is a think tank in the United States founded in 1999. It focuses on a range of public policy issues, including national security studies, technology, asset building, health, gender, energy, educa ...

, and formerly, a staff reporter at

ProPublica ProPublica (), legally Pro Publica, Inc., is a nonprofit organization based in New York City. In 2010, it became the first online news source to win a Pulitzer Prize, for a piece written by one of its journalists''The Guardian'', April 13, 2010P ...

in New York. Her articles have appeared in publications such as the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', ''

Discover Discover may refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''Discover'' (album), a Cactus Jack album * ''Discover'' (magazine), an American science magazine Businesses and brands * DISCover, the ''Digital Interactive Systems Corporation'' * D ...

'' and ''

Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it i ...

''. Fink has contributed to the public radio news magazine Public Radio International (PRI)'s ''

The World In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

'' covering a number of topics including the global

HIV/AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...

pandemic A pandemic () is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. A widespread endemic (epidemiology), endemic disease wi ...

and international aid in development, conflict and disaster settings. In 2007, she taught a course at

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private university, private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into ...

on "public health issues in crisis situations". She was a 2007–2008 Kaiser Media Fellow with the

Kaiser Family Foundation KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation), also known as The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, is an American non-profit organization, headquartered in San Francisco, California. It prefers KFF since its legal name can cause confusion as it is no longer a ...

. In August 2009 Fink published ''The Deadly Choices at Memorial'', an investigative piece, in the ''

New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. ...

''. The article, which distilled over two years of reporting, described the aftermath of

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

at Memorial Medical Center in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

in 2005.

Awards

In March 2010 ''The Deadly Choices at Memorial'' was awarded second place in the "Large Magazine" category of the

Association of Health Care Journalists The Association of Health Care Journalists is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing public understanding of health care issues. Its mission is to improve the quality, accuracy and visibility of health care reporting, writi ...

's (AHCJ) Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. The following month Fink was awarded a

for the article. The article also won a 2010 National Magazine Award for Reporting, and the 2010 Dart Award for Excellence in Coverage of Trauma given by the

Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma The Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma is a resource center and think tank for journalists who cover violence, conflict and tragedy around the world. A project of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York City, the Dart C ...

at the

Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is located in Pulitzer Hall on the university's Morningside Heights campus in New York City. Founded in 1912 by Joseph Pulitzer, Columbia Journalism School is one of the oldest journalism s ...

. She was a finalist for the 2010 Michael Kelly Award. Fink's 2013 book ''

Five Days at Memorial ''Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital'' is a 2013 non-fiction book by the American journalist Sheri Fink. The book details the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina at Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans in August 200 ...

'', which expanded on her 2009 article, won the

National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".Los Angeles Times Book Prize Since 1980, the ''Los Angeles Times'' has awarded a set of annual book prizes. The Prizes currently have nine categories: biography, current interest, fiction, first fiction (the Art Seidenbaum Award added in 1991), history, mystery/thriller ( ...

for Current Interest (2013), the Ridenhour Book Prize (2014), and

PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award The PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for nonfiction is awarded by PEN America (formerly PEN American Center) biennially "to a distinguished book of general nonfiction possessing notable literary merit and critical perspective and illuminating import ...

(2015).

Books

* Fink, Sheri. '' Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital'', First edition, New York : Crown Publishers, 2013. * Fink, Sheri. ''War Hospital: A True Story of Surgery and Survival'', First edition, New York: Public Affairs, 2003.

References

External links

*
Pulitzer Prize-winning articles on Ebola
at New York Times *
journalist's Twitter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fink, Sheri Writers from Detroit Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting winners Living people University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts alumni Stanford University School of Medicine alumni 21st-century American journalists American women journalists The New York Times writers Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women