Melba Newsome
GRANTEE
Melba Newsome is a veteran freelance journalist with more than 20 years of experience reporting on news and general interest topics. She began her career writing dramatic narratives about everything from serial killer groupies to women in harems for women's magazines, including Marie Claire, Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan, Woman's Day, and Redbook.
Her reporting is focused primarily on health, science, and the environment, with a focus on social justice and health disparities. A feature in O, The Oprah Magazine about genetic testing earned her the June Roth Award for Medical Journalism. Newsome received a Reynolds Institute fellowship and an EWA Reporting fellowship.
She has reported extensively on the physiological, emotional, and societal impact of the coronavirus. She was a 2021 MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative Journalism Fellow, publishing stories with Yale360 and other news outlets.
Newsome grew up in the Arkansas Delta and has traveled extensively. She now lives in Charlotte, North Carolina.
