Madhumita Paul
Madhumita Paul reports on how health outcomes are shaped by food systems, environmental change and economic stress, with an emphasis on vulnerable populations and developing countries.
Health impacts of diet, disease and risk factors
Her health coverage focuses on the links between everyday risk factors and serious disease, and on outbreaks that strain already fragile communities. In one report, she covers research that connects higher body mass index with elevated risk of 19 different cancers, translating complex epidemiological findings into clear implications for public health and prevention. She also writes on Ebola outbreaks and the way they threaten to push hundreds of thousands of people into poverty in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, showing how infectious disease is not only a clinical crisis but also a driver of long-term hardship.
Food systems, climate and the environment
Across her work for Down To Earth, she frequently reports on the environmental footprint of food and agriculture and their consequences for health and livelihoods. In a detailed piece on global food production, she explains how one third of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions come from food systems, breaking down contributions from land use, agricultural inputs, packaging and waste, and highlighting the role of methane from livestock and rice cultivation. Her reporting links these emissions trends to climate risks and future warming, showing that what people eat and how food is produced are central to both planetary health and human well-being. This focus on food, climate and health recurs in her coverage, tying scientific findings to broader debates about sustainable agriculture and nutrition security.
Economic shocks, poverty and global hunger
Paul’s more recent bylines track how health, food and energy crises translate into economic shocks that deepen poverty and hunger. She has reported on developing countries facing prolonged food and fuel price shocks, bringing out how price spikes ripple through household budgets, food access and social stability. In her coverage of Ebola pushing nearly a million people toward poverty, she connects disease outbreaks with income loss, rising costs and weakened safety nets. Her work appears under Economy and Global Hunger topics at the magazine, and she consistently writes about how global and regional disruptions affect people’s ability to afford food, access care and avoid sliding into hardship.
Role at an environmental news organisation
Paul works in information management at the Centre for Science and Environment, the organisation that publishes Down To Earth, and contributes regularly to the magazine’s news coverage. Her position within an environmental research and advocacy institution shapes her reporting: she draws heavily on new scientific studies and major international reports, summarising their findings on climate, health, food and poverty in concise, data-driven articles. The result is coverage that anchors health stories in evidence and situates them within larger systems — environmental degradation, food production, energy markets and economic policy — rather than treating medical or nutrition issues in isolation.
4 more health journalists.
Abida Tasnim
Abida Tasnim is a health writer for The Daily Star who focuses on clear, practical guidance that helps readers recognise risks early and act before everyday illnesses turn into wider public health problems. She reports on infectious disease prevention, using measles coverage to show how outbreaks start with individual decisions and behaviours, not just hospital statistics. Her work explains 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. She writes direct, action‑oriented health explainers that turn clinical questions about contagion and disease burden into everyday choices. Across her beat, she stresses early recognition, timely care, and prevention as the foundations of healthier communities.
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.