Abida Tasnim
Abida Tasnim writes on health for The Daily Star, focusing on clear, practical guidance that helps readers recognise risks early and act before everyday illnesses turn into wider public health problems.
Preventing infectious disease outbreaks
Tasnim’s coverage of measles shows how she treats infectious disease as a problem that begins with individual decisions and behaviours, not just hospital statistics. In her measles work, she walks readers through what happens during an outbreak and then anchors the story in simple steps people can take, such as avoiding crowded places when symptoms appear, practising good hygiene, and seeking medical advice early to help limit spread. That piece centres on prevention, explaining how timely action at the personal level can protect families and communities rather than dwelling on worst‑case scenarios. The emphasis is on measles as something readers can manage and contain with information and vigilance, reinforcing her focus on actionable public health messaging.
Accessible, action‑oriented health explainers
Tasnim writes in a direct, non‑technical style that turns clinical topics into everyday choices for readers. In her measles coverage, she distils complex questions about contagion and outbreaks into practical advice about hygiene, crowd exposure, and when to seek care, making the piece function as both reporting and a step‑by‑step explainer. She keeps guidance concise and concrete, framing health information around what people can do today rather than abstract discussions of disease burden. This service‑driven approach positions her work as a bridge between medical knowledge and lay readers who need clear answers in a few paragraphs.
Emphasis on early recognition and timely care
A recurring thread in Tasnim’s health writing is the importance of acting early, before problems escalate. Her measles piece stresses recognising symptoms promptly, limiting exposure to others, and consulting a doctor at an early stage so that treatment and isolation can be effective. She links these individual choices to their broader impact on public health, showing how one person’s decisions can either slow or accelerate an outbreak. By combining symptom awareness, behavioural guidance, and a call for early medical advice, she uses the measles story to underscore a wider theme in her beat: prevention and timely care are the foundations of healthier communities.
4 more health journalists.
Adrián Carballo Casla
Adrián Carballo Casla stands out for turning complex cohort data on ageing into clear, food‑level advice on what older adults should eat to protect brain health and slow chronic disease. He is a researcher in nutritional epidemiology focused on ageing and chronic disease prevention and a postdoctoral researcher in geriatric epidemiology at Karolinska Institutet, writing health explainers for The Conversation. He reports on how diet quality, especially Mediterranean and Mind‑style patterns, shapes dementia risk, grey matter loss and neurocognitive ageing, and how healthy versus pro‑inflammatory diets alter multimorbidity trajectories. His articles translate findings on flavonoids, polyphenols, folate, omega‑3 fats and dietary nitrates into specific food choices and small, practical changes. Much of his coverage is anchored in his own studies on multimorbidity, high‑risk older adults and tailored dietary recommendations, often syndicated to other outlets.
Ahmed Elbediwy
Ahmed Elbediwy brings a lab-based understanding of cancer biology and clinical biochemistry to public-facing health reporting, linking drug mechanisms and molecular pathways to everyday choices about medicines and products. He writes for The Conversation on weight-loss injections, cancer overdiagnosis and anti-ageing supplements, focusing on obesity medicine, cancer signalling, screening trade-offs, skincare and supplement science. His pieces on GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro explain why some people do not respond, how gut hormones and appetite signals work, and where psychological support and nutrition fit alongside prescriptions. He co-authors explainers on cancer risk and overdiagnosis and on whether supplements can reverse ageing, separating established knowledge from emerging research. An award-winning senior lecturer at Kingston University, he favours clear, structured explainers, careful definition of key terms and evidence-based appraisal over hype.
Amanda Sheppeard
Amanda Sheppeard is a managing editor and health journalist known for long, detailed explainers that connect complex clinical research, disability policy and political narratives with the daily realities of doctors and patients. She works at The Medical Republic across editorial leadership and commercial content while reporting widely on medicine for its specialist titles. Her real beat spans autism, disability policy, autoimmune disease, infectious threats and system pressures in primary care and hospitals. She covers subjects such as autism diagnosis and the NDIS, rheumatology’s clinical shifts, weight-loss agents in rheumatoid arthritis, infection control, antimicrobial resistance and new modalities like CAR T-cell therapy and microneedles. She reports by doing the synthesis inside the story, linking trial design, molecular targets, funding rules and policy changes to concrete decisions and workflows in clinics and hospitals.
Andie Noonan
Andie Noonan is a visual journalist at ABC who specialises in turning complex public health risks into clear, data-led, image-rich stories. They focus on how emerging infectious diseases, large-scale health threats and policy decisions translate into everyday consequences, often in Australia, using graphics, photography and social video instead of text-only reporting. Their work on Ebola and other “biblical” diseases traces links between global outbreaks, climate and environmental stress, and gaps in health preparedness, with an emphasis on risk rather than alarmism. Noonan also reports on how sport, recreation and routine consumer behaviour affect physical and psychological health, from violence in children’s community sport to “skimpflation” and changes in supermarket products. Across ABC News, they produce social video, TikTok explainers and archival-style pieces that use evidence, data and strong visuals to make epidemiological and economic issues easy to grasp.