Lisa L. Colangelo
Lisa L. Colangelo focuses on turning complex health science, risks and policy decisions into clear, usable information that shows how national trends affect everyday life, with a particular focus on Long Island patients and providers. She is a health staff writer for Newsday, where she has worked since 2019 after earlier reporting roles at amNewYork, the New York Daily News and the Asbury Park Press covering politics, government and general assignment. Her recent coverage ranges from consumer health hazards and seasonal safety to chronic disease research, vaccine access and the financing of public health programs.
Nanoplastics, hearing damage and other everyday health risks
Colangelo frequently reports on health threats that come from routine products and habits, grounding each story in emerging research and expert explanation.
In a feature on nanoplastics in bottled water, she walks readers through how microscopic plastic fragments form, how they are measured, and where they have already been detected in the human body, then presses local and national experts on what is and is not yet known about their health impact. Her reporting on earbud and headphone use similarly combines audiology research with practical thresholds for safe listening, spelling out decibel levels, time limits and how personal devices can reach damaging volumes in minutes. She extends that service angle to sun protection, separating dermatologists’ evidence-based guidance from social media myths and detailing what “broad-spectrum” and different SPF levels actually mean for skin cancer risk and daily use.
In coverage of cold-water plunges and ice baths, she juxtaposes devotees’ claims with sports medicine and cardiology perspectives, emphasizing both the lack of conclusive benefit and the real dangers for people with heart and other underlying conditions. She also writes straightforward seasonal safety pieces, such as guidance on staying cool and avoiding heat-related illness as summer begins, that distill medical advice into simple steps for readers.
Lyme disease, allergies and climate-linked illness
Colangelo has built a deep file on tick-borne disease and other conditions that are changing as climate and environment shift. In a report on rising neurologic Lyme disease cases, she uses a local patient’s diagnosis to introduce a lesser-known form of the illness, then details symptoms, treatment options and the importance of early testing with input from regional clinicians. A separate feature on Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome explores lingering symptoms such as brain fog, fatigue and body aches, highlighting new research at Stony Brook Medicine that examines patients with Lyme as well as co-infections like babesia. Her allergy coverage connects an unusually long, intense fall pollen season on Long Island with broader trends of earlier and longer allergy seasons, tying in climate change and other factors while preserving a practical focus on monitoring pollen counts and managing symptoms.
Together these pieces show her interest in conditions that sit at the intersection of infectious disease, environment and quality of life, and her habit of anchoring national science in local data and lived experience.
Vaccines, RSV, COVID and emerging treatments
Vaccines and infectious disease are another core strand of Colangelo’s beat, where she often examines both medical and financial dimensions. Her coverage of the new RSV vaccines explains who federal health officials recommend them for, how they fit into efforts to protect older adults, infants and pregnant people, and why many patients are encountering out-of-pocket costs of around $300 despite national guidance, including the lag before insurers must provide them without cost-sharing. In a four-years-on assessment of COVID-19, she tracks declining deaths and eased restrictions against the persistent risks of long COVID, highlighting evidence that vaccination reduces the likelihood of lingering symptoms and situating those findings in the experience of a weary public. Colangelo also reports on innovative treatments for serious gastrointestinal illnesses in young people, such as a Long Island-based pilot trial using noninvasive vagus nerve stimulation via an ear probe to reduce inflammation in Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, carefully laying out remission rates, study design and the device’s practical use. Across these stories she consistently combines clear explanations of clinical research with attention to access, cost and the real-world implications for families managing infection risk and chronic disease.
Cancer risk, organ donation and health policy
Colangelo’s work extends into cancer prevention, organ transplantation and how budgets and regulation shape the health system. In a piece on American Cancer Society statistics, she reports that women under 65 are now more likely than men in the same age group to develop cancer, including lung cancer, and breaks down projected new cases and deaths nationally and in New York, highlighting the leading cancer types and what the numbers mean for screening and treatment planning. Her coverage of U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy’s call to update alcohol warning labels explains the established links between drinking and at least seven cancers, quantifies the share of breast cancer cases attributable to alcohol, and underscores the role of alcohol as a leading preventable cause of cancer deaths.
She has also documented Long Island organ and tissue donations rising above pre-pandemic levels, connecting the increase to greater public awareness, expanded criteria for using organs once considered unsuitable, more organs available amid rising overdoses and suicides, and changes at the local organ procurement organization. On the policy side, she parses health components of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s budget, detailing proposed Medicaid changes and what they would mean for coverage and providers.
Colangelo’s stories on undercovered topics such as menopause, including a Long Island podcast that aims to reframe the condition, reflect her interest in bringing overlooked but common health issues into the public conversation with specificity and respect.
4 more health journalists.
Aislinn Antrim
Aislinn Antrim is an associate editorial director at Pharmacy Times and a journalist who connects clinical advances, regulation, and the changing role of pharmacists. She writes pharmacy-centered health coverage on chronic disease therapeutics, specialty and oncology care, workforce pressures, and advocacy. Her reporting explains FDA actions, policy shifts, drug pipelines, and the real-world effects of new evidence on patient care and pharmacy practice. She often uses interviews and expert conversations to show how pharmacists improve adherence, manage side effects, navigate access and benefits, and coordinate care with prescribers. She also covers burnout, staffing strain, and the future of pharmacy practice, with an eye on how policy and economics shape work at the dispenser.
Alex Cabrero
Alex Cabrero is an Emmy award-winning KSL TV reporter who covers where health, safety and community life meet, always focused on how decisions and events affect everyday people. He has been with KSL since 2004, bringing long experience in breaking news, public service coverage and human-centered features. His beat includes public health, emergency response, technology, local infrastructure, environment and science, framed through community well-being and resilience. He reports on issues like mental health initiatives, law enforcement staffing, environmental hazards, rescues, wildfire detection tools, land-use fights and scientific discoveries, making technical and policy details clear for a general audience. He also produces many positive, everyday-life features on families, veterans, farmers, sports and local traditions. His style is direct and conversational, often built around a central person or family whose experience carries the story across TV, digital and social platforms.
Alexandra Frost
Alexandra Frost is a freelance journalist and content marketing writer who turns expert-backed health and family guidance into clear, practical service stories. She covers consumer health, wellness, nutrition, preventive care, medical research, parenting, kids’ mental health, education, products, and lifestyle. Her reporting explains concerns such as inflammation, urinary symptoms, fiber, lung cancer screening, pain treatment, mobility, family dynamics, children’s technology use, and school readiness. She profiles clinicians and scientists, connects research to everyday decisions, and focuses on what readers should watch for, ask, or change. Frost currently writes across multiple outlets, including Good Housekeeping, Cincinnati Magazine, Wirecutter, Popular Science, Success, Healthline, Parents, Women’s Health, Reader’s Digest, Today’s Parent, the Atlantic, the Washington Post, TIME, Consumer Reports, Business Insider, and National Geographic. She also works as a freelance editor, media consultant, and content strategist.
Alexandra Pattillo
Alexandra Pattillo is a freelance journalist who pairs rigorous health and science reporting with intimate accounts of patients’ lives. She covers health, science and wellness for the BBC and other major outlets, including National Geographic, The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Guardian, Outside, CNN and Inverse. Her beat includes eating disorders, women’s health, perinatal mental health, brain health, youth sports, concussion, long-term Covid symptoms, attention, habits and behavioral science. She reports on emerging treatments such as psychedelic-assisted therapy for anorexia, testing evidence, safety and relapse risk. She explains complex research in plain language and examines how it shapes everyday choices. Her reporting uses in-depth interviews with patients, families, clinicians, researchers and coaches. Through the BBC’s Health Gap column, she also covers stigma, unequal access to care and gaps between lived experience and standard medical pathways.