13 Journalists from Across U.S. Earn Aging-Focused Reporting Fellowships
The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) and the Journalists Network on Generations are welcoming 13 distinguished reporters for the next class of the Journalists in Aging Fellows Program, now in its 16th year.
They represent a wide range of general audience, ethnic, and community media outlets, including local and national publications and online outlets. This year’s group brings the program’s total number of participating reporters to 258. The new fellows were chosen — by a panel of gerontological and editorial professionals — based on their proposals for an in-depth aging-focused story or series.
These projects, to be produced in 2026, span such concerns such as extreme weather events, sensory loss, aging with disabilities, and rural health care access.
The program is supported by funding from Silver Century Foundation, The Commonwealth Fund, The John A. Hartford Foundation, and National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation (NIHCM), and a donation from John Migliaccio, PhD, MEd, FGSA.
The new fellows:
Swe Swe Aye (Myanmar Gazette)
Project: Series on “Hearing Loss, Treatment Side Effects, and Dementia Risk: A Deep Dive into Parkinson’s Disease and New Treatments” and “The Vital Role of Caregivers”
Marla Broadfoot (Scientific American)
Project: The biology of aging-related loss of smell and taste, and its broad implications.
Ambar Castillo (Epicenter NYC)
Project: “In New York’s Gathering Deserts, Older Adults Face Greater Climate Risk”
Daschel Chavez (Telemundo Oklahoma)
Project: “Still Working: Navigating Aging and Employment — The Rise of Latino Older Adults in Oklahoma’s Labor Force”
Madeline Isabel de Figueiredo (The Daily Yonder)
Project: “Digital Dead Ends: Healthcare Barriers for Aging Texans in Rural Areas”
Yiming Fu (AsAmNews)
Project: “How the 2023 Lahaina Wildfires Disproportionately Affected Filipino Elders.”
Elizabeth Gotthelf-Othot (Saco Bay News)
Project: Series on the impact of ride programs for older rural Maine residents.
Lorie Konish (CNBC)
Project: “Impact of Big Beautiful Bill on Personal Finances of Average and Low-Income Older Americans”
Julia Métraux (Mother Jones/Center for Investigative Reporting)
Project: Series on aging with disability, such as struggling with complex health issues and/or disabilities to remain at home and avoid institutional care.
Victor Rodriguez Tafoya (Palabra)
Project: “Shadows of Service: PTSD and Aging in Post-9/11 Veterans”
LaReeca Rucker (Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal)
Project: “Nowhere to Run: How Mississippi’s Older Adults Face Tornadoes Without Safe Shelter”
Cassandra Spratling (Detroit Free Press)
Project: “Reducing Heart Disease Among Older Black Americans.”
Mark Swartz (Aging in America News)
Project: “Shoring up America’s Care Infrastructure in the Wake of Medicaid and Related Cuts.”
The participating journalists will convene during the GSA 2025 Annual Scientific Meeting — scheduled for November 12 to 15 in Boston, Massachusetts — where they will have access to the latest aging research and approximately 4,000 expert attendees. The fellowship will showcase research highlights from the meeting and other sources, and host discussions with veteran journalists on how to position aging stories in the current media environment.
GSA Director of Communications and Social Media Todd Kluss co-directs the program together with independent age-beat journalist Liz Seegert, who is also program coordinator of the fellowship’s media partner, the Journalists Network on Generations. Program co-founder and Journalists Network on Generations National Coordinator Paul Kleyman serves as senior advisor and editorial consultant.
Continuing fellowship grants also are being provided to allow several previous fellows to participate in the program and GSA’s meeting. A continuously updated list of more than 850 stories generated by the program’s alumni is available on GSA’s website.
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The Gerontological Society of America (GSA), founded in 1945, is the nation’s oldest and largest interdisciplinary organization focused on aging. It serves more than 6,000 members in over 50 countries. GSA’s vision, meaningful lives as we age, is supported by its mission to foster excellence, innovation, and collaboration to advance aging research, education, practice, and policy. GSA is home to the National Academy on an Aging Society (a nonpartisan public policy institute) and the National Center to Reframe Aging.
The Journalists Network on Generations, founded in 1993, is based in San Francisco. It links to over 1,000 journalists, authors, and producers on issues in aging, and publishes Generations Beat Online News (GBONews.org).