Jennifer La Grassa
Jennifer La Grassa is a videojournalist with CBC who focuses on health-care stories that connect new research, policy shifts and drug approvals to what patients actually face in the health system. Her reporting centres on how access, cost and risk are changing for Canadians, whether through emerging medications, wait times for specialists or evolving rules around end-of-life care. She works in a feature and explainer style, using national datasets, peer-reviewed studies and frontline voices to ground complex issues in everyday consequences.
Generic Ozempic and drug costs
La Grassa has a sustained focus on semaglutide and other GLP-1 drugs, tracking their journey from regulatory approval to pharmacy shelves and into patients’ budgets. She reports on Health Canada’s approval of the first generic version of Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic, explaining how submissions from manufacturers such as Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories and Apotex translate into more competition and lower prices.
In follow-up pieces, she documents how generic Ozempic products roll out across pharmacies, comparing them to the brand-name version and outlining what pharmacists and experts say about equivalence, safety and expected demand. Her coverage quantifies the impact on monthly costs, noting generics around $100 a month and the potential for prices to fall further toward $75 as more entrants arrive.
Across these stories, she consistently frames GLP-1 drugs within broader questions about affordability, prescribing practices and who will actually benefit when high-profile medications become cheaper.
Millions struggle to get specialist health care
Access to specialists is another through-line, with La Grassa using national survey data to show how gaps in care play out for middle-aged and older Canadians. In a feature on a Statistics Canada report, she highlights that 4.5 million Canadians aged 45 and older have had trouble accessing specialist care, drawing out the specific barriers of booking appointments and months-long waits after referral.
She situates those numbers within a population of 17.2 million people in that age group, underscoring how common delayed specialist care has become.
A related piece on dermatology access shows Canada short about 460 dermatologists and links that shortage to year-long waits for medical appointments such as skin cancer screening, mole removals and treatment for eczema and psoriasis. She contrasts those delays with much easier access to cosmetic procedures like Botox, using that split to examine how limited specialist capacity and market incentives shape who gets timely care.
These stories combine national statistics, association estimates and patient experiences to map the structural reasons why people struggle to reach the specialists they need.
Why the debate about MAID for mental illness still rages
La Grassa also covers medical assistance in dying (MAID), especially where mental illness and changing legislation intersect. She reports on a federal parliamentary committee’s recommendation that the government “indefinitely exclude” people whose sole underlying condition is a mental illness from accessing MAID, explaining the proposed Criminal Code changes and the timeline under which mental-disorder-only cases could otherwise become eligible in March 2027.
In another piece, she follows a Toronto woman seeking a court exemption so that a doctor can end her life despite current laws excluding people whose only condition is mental illness, using that case to show how individual stories collide with legislative delays. Her coverage of assisted dying in the Netherlands digs into a surge in assisted deaths among people with mental disorders, presenting the numbers and the differing views among psychiatrists on whether that experience should be a warning for Canada.
Across these features she keeps the focus on legal criteria, committee processes and expert debate, clarifying how MAID policy is evolving and what it means for people living with severe mental illness.
Self-harm, obesity and emerging health risks for young people
La Grassa frequently reports on emerging health risks, with particular attention to young people and how new trends show up in data and emergency rooms. In a story on exercise-induced rhabdomyolysis, she traces how a workout class led to a cluster of 20 rhabdo cases in one region over several months, mostly among women aged 19 to 30, and uses neuromuscular experts to explain the condition, its link to “unaccustomed exercise” and prevention strategies such as hydration and gradual training. Her coverage of self-harm among young Canadians draws on research in JAMA Pediatrics showing that medically treated self-harm in people 24 and younger has been rising by an average of 3.5 per cent per year since 2000, more than doubling over 25 years, with the steepest increases among girls.
She complements those findings with data on self-reported self-harm, citing a 2.5 per cent yearly increase across both girls and boys to show that the trend is not limited to hospital-treated cases. In an obesity feature anchored in a study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, she reports that about one-third of Canadians - 32.7 per cent or 10.6 million people - were obese in 2023, and notes that weight gain accelerated during the pandemic, especially among young adults aged 18 to 39.
These pieces share a consistent method: lift out the most recent research numbers, connect them to lived experience and use expert commentary to explain what rising risk means for everyday behaviours.
Infections, contamination and foodborne illness
Infectious disease and contamination are another recurring strand in La Grassa’s reporting.
She covers a growing U.S. outbreak of cyclospora infections linked to lettuce from Taylor Farms, tracking more than 1,000 illnesses and ongoing testing while posing the question of whether the parasite is present in Canada and what further investigations may show. Her work on Listeria contaminations explains what people in Canada should know about how the bacteria enters food and drink, how recalls unfold and what symptoms to watch for, reflecting a sustained interest in food-related health risks.
Across these stories she combines regulatory updates, outbreak metrics and practical guidance, staying close to what affected people need to understand about contaminated products and changing safety advisories.
Throughout this body of work, La Grassa’s reporting is distinguished by its blend of detailed health data, regulatory and policy context, and clear explanations of how those forces affect access to care, the cost of treatment and the risks facing patients, particularly younger Canadians. She consistently returns to questions of who is being left behind - whether in specialist wait lists, drug pricing, MAID eligibility or responses to new health threats - and uses both national statistics and individual stories to answer them.
4 more health journalists.
Alanna Smith
Alanna Smith is a national health reporter whose work links health policy and politics to real access to care, with a constant focus on health equity, infectious disease and the toxic drug crisis. She reports for The Globe and Mail on infectious diseases, hospitals and long-term care, mental health, drug policy and the pressures on health systems in Western Canada. Her stories connect big-picture decisions to patients, families, front-line workers and volunteers, showing how funding, privatization and federal standards shape public care. She has covered trauma care inequities, proposed public‑private models in Alberta, drug toxicity and overdose policy, respiratory virus surges, measles elimination, gene‑editing advances and gender‑affirming health care laws. Her work combines narrative reporting, data, legal and policy analysis, and has been recognized by national journalism and press freedom organizations.
Allan Levine
Allan Levine is a historian and author whose journalism uses the past to explain present-day issues. He writes for the Winnipeg Free Press, including the Now & Then column, which examines current events through history. His subjects include public health, disease, medical treatment, health systems, politics, social conflict, strikes, wars, antisemitism and Canadian public life. His polio reporting traces Manitoba epidemics, hospital pressures, treatment, mortality and the arrival of vaccines through archival data and medical history. He also writes about the Winnipeg General Strike and Jewish communities, including discrimination, rights and security. His work draws on books about Canadian political leaders, Jewish history and the wartime economy, including The Dollar A Year Men. He writes long-form, analytical pieces that combine dates, statistics, policy decisions and narrative storytelling to connect people and institutions with broader historical change.
Angela Amato
Angela Amato is a digital news producer with CTV News, and her coverage is distinct for linking health research and public safety concerns to legal and policy decisions that shape daily life. She reports on health, justice, politics, business, arts and culture, crime and public-interest stories. Her health work covers academic and clinical research, including studies on vaping and lung blood flow, exercise tolerance and early heart dysfunction in young adults. She also reports on motorcycle gang arrests, homicide and death investigations, Indigenous justice stories, wildfire evacuations, ambulance contracts, property taxes, labour negotiations and political advocacy rules. She explains complex findings in plain language and stays close to documents, data and expert sources. Her background includes investigative and daily newsrooms, and she has earned nominations for national journalism awards.
Apoorva Mandavilli
Apoorva Mandavilli covers the collision of infectious disease science, vaccine policy and public health agencies for The New York Times, following how research, regulation and politics shape outbreaks and access to vaccines. She reports on science and global health with a steady focus on infectious diseases and pandemics, including Covid-19, mpox, H.I.V., malaria and tuberculosis, treating them as ongoing global threats. Her work explains complex epidemiology and virology in clear narratives about risk, evidence and the consequences of scientific decisions. She repeatedly returns to vaccine policy, law and misinformation, tracing how court fights and agency disputes affect immunization schedules and public trust. She also reports on global health programs, funding cuts and inequity in care and technology. A longtime science journalist and former founding editor in chief of Spectrum, she has written widely on science and health and received major honors for medical science reporting and pandemic coverage.