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Usha McFarling named director of MIT's knight science journalism program
McFarling is widely recognized for her 2007 Pulitzer Prize for explanatory journalism for a series on the world's oceans.
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Pranavi Sharma - Mon, 19, May 2025
- 02:55 EDT
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Usha McFarling. / MIT
Usha Lee McFarling, an Indian origin national science correspondent for STAT and a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, will become the next director of the Knight Science Journalism Program (KSJ) at MIT, the institute announced last week. She will take on the role in August.
McFarling, a 1992–93 KSJ Fellow herself, will lead one of the most prestigious mid-career fellowships for science journalists, which brings reporters from around the world to spend 10 months studying at MIT, Harvard, and other institutions in the Boston area.
“I’m eager to take the helm during this critical time for science journalism, a time when journalism is under attack both politically and economically and misinformation — especially in areas of science and health — is rife,” McFarling told MIT News. “My goal is for the program to find even more ways to support our field and its practitioners as they carry on their important work.”
McFarling has reported for STAT News since 2016, covering topics ranging from health disparities to bioethics. Her journalism career spans decades and includes work at the Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, Knight Ridder Washington Bureau, and the San Antonio Light. She holds a biology degree from Brown University and a master’s in biological psychology from the University of California, Berkeley.
She is widely recognized for her work, which includes a 2007 Pulitzer Prize for explanatory journalism for a series on the world's oceans, along with a Polk Award. Her recent reporting at STAT on health disparities has earned her several honors, including an Edward R. Murrow award and accolades from the Association of Health Care Journalists and the Asian American Journalists Association. In 2024, she received the Victor Cohn Prize for Excellence in Medical Science Reporting and the Bernard Lo, MD Award in Bioethics.
McFarling will succeed Deborah Blum, who is stepping down after a decade as director.
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