Mumbai-born wins top prize in medical reporting

Mumbai-born Geeta Anand has just scripted another Non-Resident Indian success story by winning the 2007 Victor Cohn Prize for Excellence in Medical Science Reporting.

The New York-based senior special writer for the Wall Street Journal's investigative group has been described by the award panel as the one who possess extraordinary narrative technique, emotional power, and sharp, intelligent analysis.

According to a website, Anand joined the Journal's Boston bureau in 1998 and moved to the New York bureau to cover biotechnology in 2001. She formerly worked for the Boston Globe, the Rutland (VT) Herald, and the Cape Cod News.

"She combined the perspective of a business journalist with the heart of a sensitive and empathetic reporter," the judges said.

Anand's stories turn complicated business and medical issues, they said, into engaging human tales that hold the reader spellbound all the way.

In the articles, Anand has turned her skills on the crisis confronting a biotech company when it was asked to provide an experimental drug for a dying child; on the issues raised by the use of a $600,000-per-year biotechnology drug; and on how rare diseases can become huge money-makers for drug companies.

Anand also authored a book The Cure: How A Father Raised $100 Million and Bucked the Medical Establishment in a Quest to Save his Children in 2006.

In his nominating letter, Journal Page One Editor Michael W. Miller said Anand "has explored the ethical challenges confronting physicians, scientists, companies and families as breathtaking advances in science are turned into treatments for life-threatening illnesses".

The praise continues: "She has also written hard-hitting stories questioning the prices companies are charging for new medicines, exposing the enormous profit margins they carry and the effect of the high prices on patients' access to the drugs."

The prize, consisting of a $3,000 check and a certificate, will be presented in Spokane, Wash., on October 21, 2007, at the annual awards banquet held jointly by the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing (a non-profit organisation of journalists and scientists committed to improving the quality of science news reaching the public) and the National Association of Science Writers.

The award honours the late Washington Post medical reporter Victor Cohn, who distinguished himself by the clarity, honesty and effectiveness of his reporting during a 50-year-career. He was also a co-founder of the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing.