Jonathan David LaPook (born September 1, 1953) is an American board-certified physician in internal medicine and

gastroenterology Gastroenterology (from the Greek gastḗr- “belly”, -énteron “intestine”, and -logía "study of") is the branch of medicine focused on the digestive system and its disorders. The digestive system consists of the gastrointestinal tract ...

who is the Chief Medical Correspondent for CBS News. Named the Mebane Professor of Gastroenterology in 2013, he is Professor of Medicine at

NYU Langone Medical Center NYU Langone Health is an academic medical center located in New York City, New York, United States. The health system consists of NYU Grossman School of Medicine and NYU Long Island School of Medicine, both part of New York University (NYU), and ...

and has an active medical practice in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. He joined CBS News in 2006. When LaPook joined CBS News, ''

The New York Observer ''The New York Observer'' was a weekly newspaper printed from 1987 to 2016, when it ceased print publication and became the online-only newspaper ''Observer''. The media site focuses on culture, real estate, media, politics and the entertainmen ...

'' reported on the hire as a trend away from professional journalists covering expert fields and a tendency toward hiring subject matter experts to do journalism.

Early life and education

LaPook was born in Mineola, N.Y, the son of Elsa (''née'' Eisenbud) and Sidney LaPook, a dentist and World War II veteran (1928–2018). He has three sisters, Judith LaPook, Nancy LaPook Diamond, and Corinne LaPook. He graduated with honors from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

and

Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (VP&S) is the graduate medical school of Columbia University, located at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. Founded ...

, receiving his M.D. in 1980. He completed a

residency Residency may refer to: * Domicile (law), the act of establishing or maintaining a residence in a given place ** Permanent residency, indefinite residence within a country despite not having citizenship * Residency (medicine), a stage of postgra ...

in internal medicine and fellowship in gastroenterology at the

New York-Presbyterian Hospital The NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital is a nonprofit academic medical center in New York City affiliated with two Ivy League medical schools, Cornell University and Columbia University. The hospital comprises seven distinct campuses located in the New ...

/Columbia University Medical Center. He is married to Kate Lear, daughter of legendary TV producer Norman Lear. The couple have two sons.

Career

Medicine

In 1986, LaPook began an active practice in gastroenterology and internal medicine at Columbia. He continued to teach at Columbia University Medical Center and became Professor of Medicine. LaPook has done extensive work in the field of medical computing, including helping to develop an electronic textbook of medicine and writing a medical practice management software package that he sold in 1999 to a company that was later acquired by Emdeon Corporation, the parent company of

WebMD WebMD is an American corporation known primarily as an online publisher of news and information pertaining to human health and well-being. The site includes information pertaining to drugs. It is one of the top healthcare websites. It was fou ...

. He is a published author, and is especially focused on educating the public about health issues. LaPook is the founder of the NYU Langone Empathy Project, whose goal is improve the interaction of health professionals and patients by creating a

curriculum In education, a curriculum (; : curricula or curriculums) is broadly defined as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view ...

on video that teaches empathy to doctors, nurses and all members of the healthcare community https://www.empathyproject.com/.

Journalism

In 2006, LaPook joined anchor

Katie Couric Katherine Anne Couric ( ; born January 7, 1957) is an American journalist and presenter. She is founder of Katie Couric Media, a multimedia news and production company. She also publishes a daily newsletter, ''Wake Up Call''. From 2013 to 2017, ...

at the "

CBS Evening News The ''CBS Evening News'' is the flagship evening television news program of CBS News, the news division of the CBS television network in the United States. The ''CBS Evening News'' is a daily evening broadcast featuring news reports, feature st ...

" as Medical Correspondent. In 2013, he was named Chief Medical Correspondent for CBS News, appearing regularly on "

CBS This Morning ''CBS This Morning'' (''CTM'') is an American morning television program that aired on CBS from November 30, 1987, to October 29, 1999, and again from January 9, 2012, to September 6, 2021. The program was aired from Monday through Saturday. ...

," the "

with

Scott Pelley Scott Cameron Pelley (born July 28, 1957) is an American journalist and author who has been a correspondent and anchor for CBS News for more than 31 years. Pelley is the author of the 2019 book, ''Truth Worth Telling'', and a correspondent for th ...

," CBS Radio, and CBS News Streaming. He has interviewed patients, healthcare providers, researchers, thought-leaders, and government officials, including

President Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

twice, in an attempt to provide insight and perspective on a wide range of health and medical subjects.

Education

In 2014, LaPook founded The Empathy Project at NYU Langone Medical Center, whose premise is that a good interpersonal relationship between patient and caregiver is critical to excellent medical care. The Empathy Project seeks to promote a culture of

empathy Empathy is the capacity to understand or feel what another person is experiencing from within their frame of reference, that is, the capacity to place oneself in another's position. Definitions of empathy encompass a broad range of social, co ...

in medicine—to educate patients to expect and demand it, and to train healthcare providers to be more humane and effective. It will bring together leaders in medicine, technology and entertainment, and create short films that will highlight important issues between patient and medical caregiver.

Awards

LaPook has won five Emmy awards for his coverage in 2012 of the national shortage of drugs, for team coverage in 2013 of the

Boston Marathon bombing The Boston Marathon bombing was a domestic terrorist attack that took place during the annual Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013. Two terrorists, brothers Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, planted two homemade pressure cooker bombs, w ...

s, 2019 for Sunday Morning, Outstanding Program, in 2020 for Sunday Morning, Outstanding Program and in 2021 for CBS Mornings/CBS This Morning, Outstanding Live News Program. In 2020 LaPook was awarded a Drama Desk Award for his work as medical contributor to ''Stars In The House,'' keeping the theatre community informed throughout the coronavirus pandemic. In 2018 The Alliance for Women in Media awarded him a Gracie Award in the News Feature Series category for two groundbreaking ''60 Minutes'' reports that investigated the USA Gymnastics sexual abuse scandal involving

Larry Nassar Lawrence "Larry" Gerard Nassar (born August 16, 1963) is an American former physician and convicted child rapist. For 18 years, he was the team doctor of the United States women's national gymnastics team. He used his employment as the ...

. LaPook was also named a George Foster Peabody Award finalist in 2018 for those two ''60 Minutes'' investigative reports on the gymnastics scandal. He has won two Edward R. Murrow Awards for "Best Broadcast" in 2007 and 2013. He also won a 2015 New York Press Club Award for Journalism for "Eye on Ebola"

WCBS-AM WCBS (880 AM, "WCBS Newsradio 880") is a radio station licensed to New York, New York and is owned and operated by Audacy, Inc. WCBS's studios are located in the combined Audacy facility in the Hudson Square neighborhood of lower Manhattan an ...

News Team Special. In 2010, he was recognized in the Webby Awards for his documentary series ''Doc Dot Com''.

References

External links

Profile at CBS News
* {{DEFAULTSORT:LaPook, Jonathan American gastroenterologists American medical journalists American television reporters and correspondents CBS News people Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons alumni Yale University alumni People from Mineola, New York 1953 births Living people Jewish American journalists Jewish American scientists 21st-century American Jews 60 Minutes correspondents