Melissa Gilligan
Melissa Gilligan is a digital news reporter with CTV News whose work links public health alerts, safety incidents and everyday community life in a direct, incident-driven way. Her coverage spans health service access, disease outbreaks, crime, collisions, scams and lifestyle guides, giving a clear picture of how news events affect people’s routines and risks.
Health alerts, outbreaks and screening
Health coverage in her portfolio focuses on alerts that carry immediate consequences for the public, especially when food safety or access to care is at stake. She has reported on gastrointestinal illness outbreaks tied to specific restaurant locations, detailing Alberta Health Services investigations, the source venue and the steps authorities take to manage risk for diners. Her work also includes stories on mobile mammography services travelling to smaller communities, explaining when and where the unit is available and emphasizing access to screening for residents who might otherwise have limited options.
Across these pieces, she stays close to official information from health agencies and presents clear, practical details such as dates, locations and instructions that matter when people decide whether to seek care or change behaviour. She covers these topics as part of a wider health beat that also encompasses broader lifestyle and safety angles, keeping the focus on how health systems and services intersect with daily life.
Crime, policing and scam coverage
A large share of Gilligan’s recent reporting covers crime and policing, with a strong emphasis on concrete incidents, charges and the investigative steps taken by law enforcement.
She has written on theft cases involving high-value items such as 3D printers later found for sale online, outlining what was stolen, how it was recovered and what charges the accused face. Her work includes coverage of gun and drug seizures following suspicious activity in residential areas, documenting the items seized and the circumstances that triggered police intervention.
She regularly reports on “prolific offenders,” following cases where suspects are linked to sprawling crime sprees or face dozens of charges across jurisdictions. Financial and consumer harm appears in her work through stories about bank scams, such as a case where a woman lost $25,000 and four suspects were charged, with attention to how the scheme operated and what authorities advise in response. At the more granular end of the spectrum, she covers incidents like assaults on store employees tied to minor thefts, using specific examples (including the theft of a banana during an alleged assault) to illustrate how everyday disputes can escalate into criminal matters. She also reports on serious files involving terrorism-related offences and child abuse, summarizing the allegations, the role of the RCMP and the range of charges laid against the accused.
Collisions, fatalities and emergency response
Gilligan’s reporting on collisions and fatalities tracks how individual incidents unfold and how emergency services respond.
She has covered cases where a woman was struck and killed by a school bus, presenting the basic facts of what happened, where, and how police were handling the investigation. In another piece, she detailed a pedestrian injury in a crash on a major avenue, including the resulting road closure and the impact on traffic.
Her work extends to outdoor and recreational settings, such as a report on two men who died while hiking in Banff National Park, a story that situates those deaths within a broader count of hiking casualties for the year. Through these stories, she consistently notes key details like location, timing, casualty numbers and the involvement of police or emergency services, framing collisions and fatalities as public safety issues rather than isolated events.
Community guides and lifestyle stories
Alongside hard news, Gilligan produces lifestyle and community service pieces that highlight how people spend their time and money. She has written “10 things to do this weekend” guides that list events and activities, functioning as practical roundups for readers planning their leisure time. Her work includes coverage of lists of romantic restaurants compiled by platforms such as OpenTable, describing which local venues are featured and why they stand out.
These pieces sit next to her health, crime and safety reporting, reflecting her broader experience covering lifestyle topics as well as more serious stories. Across formats, she keeps the writing straightforward and information-heavy, whether she is outlining criminal charges, summarizing a health investigation or listing restaurant recommendations.
Gilligan joined the digital news team at CTV News in 2021 and brings experience from prior roles in radio and online newsrooms, where she covered politics, elections, crime, education, environment, health and lifestyle. That background underpins her current mix of incident-led reporting, health alerts, public safety coverage and practical guides to local experiences.
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.