Alexandra Thompson
Alexandra Thompson is an assistant news editor focused on health at New Scientist. She combines editing responsibilities with frontline reporting on subjects ranging from ageing brains to infectious disease, keeping health science tied to the decisions people make about their own care. Her coverage stands out for testing common health advice against current evidence and for examining how scientific findings translate into real-world outcomes for those living with illness.
Ageing brains and cognitive health
Thompson reports on how ageing affects the brain and what research says about staying mentally sharp in later life. In her piece on keeping the brain sharp in old age, she looks at the evidence behind lifestyle strategies and medical findings that claim to preserve cognitive function, treating them as questions to be answered rather than simple tips to be passed on.
The framing focuses on what can genuinely be supported by studies, rather than presenting brain health advice as settled fact, which distinguishes her work from more generic coverage of healthy ageing.
Her approach in this area reflects a broader interest in how neuroscience and psychology intersect with everyday health choices. She is willing to engage with complex topics such as consciousness and the ethics of new methods in brain research, bringing the same clear, news-driven treatment to questions that often sit at the boundary between science and philosophy.
That mix of cognitive health, ageing, and neuroscience gives her health beat a sharper focus than a general wellness reporter and positions her as a consistent interpreter of brain-related research for a news audience.
Chronic illness and contested treatments
Thompson covers chronic conditions where treatment guidance is disputed, with particular attention to long covid. In a widely discussed story on exercise for people with long covid, she questions the value of standard exercise programmes and examines whether they are supported by robust evidence for this patient group. The piece looks at clinical claims, potential harms, and real-world outcomes, challenging assumptions that what works for one condition can be transferred wholesale to another.
This kind of reporting gives space to controversy without sensationalising it, focusing instead on what trials, clinicians and affected people actually report. She brings a critical lens to rehabilitation advice, highlighting where guidelines may be out of step with emerging science or patient experience, and where more rigorous study is still needed. That emphasis on contested treatments makes her health coverage more investigative than routine beat reporting that might simply relay new recommendations.
Infectious disease and health risk communication
Thompson also reports and comments on infectious disease threats, including concerns around the H5N1 strain of bird flu and whether it is spreading between people.
In coverage and discussion of bird flu she explains what is known about transmission, what remains uncertain, and how public health bodies are responding, translating technical virology and epidemiology into plain language. Her focus is on clarifying risk without overstating it, an approach that helps distinguish her work from more alarmist health news.
Alongside written news, she appears in audio and video formats to discuss health stories, bringing editorial judgement to live conversations about emerging science and medical risk. This multimedia presence reinforces her role as a health specialist who can move between quick-turn news, deeper reported pieces, and explanatory segments on complex topics. It gives her beat a continuity across platforms that extends beyond single articles.
Health news editing and beat stewardship
As an assistant news editor focused on health, Thompson helps shape the masthead’s daily health agenda while maintaining her own reporting. Her position places her at the junction of breaking health news, longer-term stories on chronic conditions, and coverage of major outbreaks, allowing her to decide which developments merit close scrutiny and which need careful contextualising. Before joining New Scientist she worked as a health reporter at other news outlets, giving her experience of both writing and editing within the health beat.
Across her work, the common thread is a tight focus on evidence and impact: whether she is writing about brain ageing, long covid rehabilitation, or infectious disease, Thompson treats health claims as hypotheses to be tested rather than messages to be repeated. That stance, combined with her editorial role, makes her coverage distinct from more generic health reporting that leans heavily on expert quotes or press releases without interrogating the underlying science.
4 more health journalists.
Alan Booth
Alan Booth is distinctive for linking infectious disease, laboratory research and emerging health technologies rather than treating them as separate beats. He is a senior editor at Labmate-Online, where he covers outbreaks, vaccines, drug development, antimicrobial resistance, gene therapies and laboratory innovation. His reporting has examined tuberculosis, measles, cholera, influenza and malaria, including a major tuberculosis outbreak, vaccine and drug advances, and a malaria vaccine designed to block mosquito transmission. He has also written about antibiotic-resistant bacteria, new gene therapy centres and SinS Brighton 2025. Booth reports news, research updates, interviews and event coverage for a broad laboratory audience. He presents LabMatePod, discussing AMR, emerging pathogens, public health responses and scientific history. Across articles, interviews and podcasts, he connects laboratory findings with health policy and technology using clear, well-researched science communication.
Alex Storey
Alex Storey is a journalist at LBC whose work is driven by specific cases that test professional conduct and accountability in health and the public sector. He covers health as his main beat, focusing on the point where individual decisions by clinicians or officials meet public trust in institutions. His reporting is incident-first and case-led, using concrete episodes to show how rules, ethics and policy work in real life. Recent pieces include a disciplinary case where a nurse was struck off after linking a patient’s cancer to Covid jabs, and coverage of civil servants being “paid to play Grand Theft Auto” as “lived experience” training. Across these stories, he examines how professionals, regulators and officials explain their decisions, and what that reveals about trust, responsibility and the standards expected of people in positions of authority.
Alice Wilkinson
Alice Wilkinson investigates how everyday habits, products and routines shape sleep and long-term wellbeing, using test-driven health features to separate hype from real benefit. She holds a senior role on The Telegraph’s health features team, writing and shaping consumer-focused coverage that blends personal trial with clear expert evidence. Her core beat is sleep as a practical, solvable part of daily life, from detailed comparisons of magnesium supplements to service pieces on how sleeping position affects health over time. She treats supplements as a crowded, over-claimed market that demands careful testing and clear-eyed reporting. Alongside long-form features she writes weekly health desk dispatches on sleep, stress and concentration. Across her work she combines substantial self-testing, specialist insight and plain, unfussy prose to give readers measurable, realistic changes they can make.
Alison Lynch
Alison Lynch turns testing and lifestyle expertise into clear, shoppable guidance on sleep, home and beauty. She is head of content for the Good Housekeeping Institute, overseeing product coverage across homes, beauty, wellness, family and food and drink. With more than 15 years’ experience as a lifestyle editor, she covers mattresses, bedding, sleep aids, grooming tools, wellness devices, kitchen products, homeware and smart gadgets. Her reviews combine lab data, panel feedback and long-term use with practical details on comfort, performance, value and ease of use. She also writes service features on cooking, misophonia and television-inspired style, and has interviewed Dame Joanna Lumley and members of the Kardashian family. Her work connects everyday wellbeing, consumer products and lifestyle through actionable advice.