Announcement from national editor Phil Rucker, deputy national editor Amy Fiscus, Health and Science Editor Stephen Smith, and Deputy Health and Science Editor Tracy Jan:
We are thrilled to share the news that Health and Science reporter Akilah Johnson and her seminal work chronicling racism and disparities in the U.S. health system are being recognized with the highest honor bestowed by the National Medical Association, the country’s oldest and largest organization of African American physicians. The association is awarding Akilah the Scroll of Merit, which is given “to those individuals whose efforts and contributions have been preeminent” in medicine or health advocacy.
In a letter announcing the award, the association writes that Akilah’s “accomplishments and contributions to the elimination of disparities that permeate all facets of the African American life experience in this country truly exemplifies the core principles of the Scroll of Merit award.”
The award makes particular note of her coverage of maternal health disparities, which last year focused on Black birth workers in Texas.
Akilah joined The Post in January 2021 and has chronicled the disparate consequences of the coronavirus pandemic on Hispanic, Native American and African American communities, on the shifting trajectory of the crisis and, recently, about the health system’s failure to address long covid in communities of color. Akilah was a key reporter in the Dying Early life expectancy series and regularly moderates Washington Post Live segments.
Before joining The Post, Akilah was a narrative health reporter for ProPublica, where her work was recognized with Polk and National Magazine Awards and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. She previously worked at the Boston Globe, where she was a Pulitzer finalist for a landmark series on race in Boston.
The National Medical Association will present the award to Akilah on Aug. 3 in New York at its annual convention. Please join us in congratulating her.
