Melissa Sweet
Melissa Sweet links health reporting to democracy and public interest, focusing on how journalism can advance equity and accountability in health systems. She is a public health journalist and Editor in Chief of Croakey Health Media, and has been covering health matters for more than 30 years. Her work combines editorial leadership of a non‑profit public interest newsroom with independent reporting on innovation in health and in journalism itself.
Public interest journalism in health
Sweet’s defining focus is public interest journalism for health, treating news coverage as a tool for civic participation rather than as isolated medical stories. At Croakey Health Media, she leads a non‑profit journalism organisation with a stated focus on health equity and the public interest, embedding these values in the outlet’s agenda and formats. She describes her work as centring innovation in public interest journalism, and articulates a clear view that journalism should give people the information they need to take part in the democratic process, inform policy and practice, hold power to account, and amplify the voices of those who are not well served by current distributions of power.
Her reporting and editorial work often sit at the intersection of health and policy, drawing out how decisions by governments, institutions, and professional bodies shape population health. Rather than focusing on clinical breakthroughs alone, she frames health stories within broader systems and structures, including governance, regulation, and public funding. This systems‑level lens distinguishes her coverage from more generic health reporting and aligns with Croakey’s positioning as a social journalism initiative in health.
Health equity and Indigenous health
Health equity is a central thread in Sweet’s work and in the newsroom she leads. Croakey Health Media is described as a public interest journalism organisation with a focus on health equity, and her role as Editor in Chief involves shaping coverage that foregrounds inequities and structural determinants of health. She uses her own platforms to share news and analysis about Indigenous health, indicating a sustained interest in the health of Indigenous communities and in coverage that centres their perspectives and leadership.
Through this lens, she treats health reporting as a vehicle for addressing gaps in access, outcomes, and voice, rather than only reporting on health services or disease trends. She highlights communities and stakeholders that are not well served by current power arrangements, and her public interest framing emphasises accountability to those groups. This approach positions her as a journalist who consistently connects health stories to questions of justice, representation, and systemic change.
Civic participation, citizen science and democracy
Sweet’s reporting links everyday health experiences with civic and collective action. In work such as her piece on how citizen science can help strengthen health and belonging, she explores participatory approaches where community members contribute directly to health knowledge and decision‑making.[anchor article] She presents citizen science as both a public health tool and a way of building social connection and a sense of belonging, showing how collaborative data‑gathering and local expertise can improve health outcomes while reinforcing community ties.[anchor article]
She also addresses how health organisations and advocates should respond to political parties and movements, as in her coverage of responses to One Nation. In that work, she examines strategic and ethical questions for health advocates engaging with polarising or harmful political rhetoric, again framing health as inseparable from democratic life and public discourse. This focus on the civic dimensions of health policy, advocacy, and community participation sets her apart from beat reporters who concentrate primarily on clinical or institutional news.
Media literacy, peace journalism and cross‑platform work
Sweet invests in media literacy as part of her public health journalism practice. She writes and shares guidance on how people can boost their media literacy skills, reflecting a belief that informed audiences are crucial for both public health and democratic resilience. This interest in how information is produced, consumed, and contested complements her reporting on journalism itself and on the role of media in shaping health debates.
Her work extends beyond written articles into public discussions and audio formats. She participates in CroakeyLIVE events where topics such as peace journalism and global public health are discussed, linking reporting with dialogue on how journalism can reduce harm and support more constructive public conversations. She appears on podcasts to talk about Croakey Health Media, public interest journalism, and her trajectory as a journalist and writer, bringing her editorial perspective into broader discussions about the future of health journalism. Across these formats, she maintains a consistent focus on equity, accountability, and participation, and uses her long experience in health and medicine reporting to frame complex issues in accessible, public‑facing ways.
In addition to her editorial role, Sweet continues to work as an independent journalist and nonfiction writer, specialising in human health and medicine and contributing long‑form writing that deepens her daily reporting. The combination of newsroom leadership, thematic depth in health equity and Indigenous health, and attention to media literacy and civic engagement marks her as a specialist whose work is rooted in both public health expertise and a strong public interest mission.
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.