Philip J. Hilts, the author of six books and a prize-winning health and science reporter for both The New York Times and The Washington Post, has been named the third director of the Knight Science Journalism Fellowships. He will succeed Boyce Rensberger, who retires this summer after ten years in the job.
Hilts, whose journalism career began in 1968, was the Times reporter who broke the story of the tobacco industry’s 40-year cover-up of its own research showing that tobacco was harmful and addictive. His most recent book, Rx for Survival: Why We Must Rise to the Global Health Challenge, was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.
During some 20 years at the Times and the Post and in more than 300 front page stories, Hilts has reported from such disparate locales as a mile deep in the Pacific Ocean while aboard the submersible Alvin, and a Zambian village where a traditional healer was “curing” AIDS. His articles on the inaccuracy of hypnosis-induced court testimony led to four men being freed from jail.
A long-time teacher of science journalism at Boston University, Hilts will also take over Rensberger’s teaching role in MIT’s Graduate Program in Science Writing.
Hilts said he was thrilled to have the chance to lead the program, especially during the rapidly changing economic environment in journalism and the rise of new media that are altering the craft, possibly in fundamental ways.
“This is the best program of its kind anywhere, and has for decades been the source of enthusiasm and high standards that science journalists look to,” he said. “Now it has got even more to do, helping journalists launch themselves into the electronic future, again with enthusiasm while maintaining high standards. What a great opportunity!
“MIT is the liveliest place for science training on the planet, and it will be a pleasure to give more journalists the chance to come here to catch up on the latest and best,” Hilts said.
"I'm delighted that Phil Hilts will be coming to MIT and using his extraordinary experience and energy to guide the advancement of the many science journalists who come here each year," said Deborah Fitzgerald, dean of the School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, who chaired the search committee. “The Knight Fellowships program is a major part of MIT's effort to improve the public understanding of science and technology, and I'm confident that Phil will take the program to even greater heights."
Rensberger echoed Fitzgerald’s sentiments.
“This is an excellent choice,” he said. “Phil and I worked together for about five years at the Post in the 1980s, and I developed a huge respect for his combination of scientific interests and investigative acumen. He can write beautifully about the wonder of science, but he also thinks the public should have a realistic view of science that includes the warts.”
Hilts is also the author of Protecting America’s Health: The FDA, Business, and One Hundred Years of Regulation. The only history of the Food and Drug Administration, this book tells the story of the fight over using science as the basis of public policy. It won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Science and Technology and was named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.
Hilts has been a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University and twice a fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health. He is also a commentator on health and science issues for National Public Radio.
The Fellowships, which will celebrate its 25th anniversary in February, is the nation’s leading program for advanced education in science for mid-career journalists. Each year ten to twelve reporters, editors and producers are chosen to spend an academic year on campus, taking courses. The program also stages three shorter workshops each year for additional groups of science, medical and environment reporters.
Funded chiefly by an endowment from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Fellowships is a component of the Science, Technology and Society Program in the School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. It began in 1983 as the Vannevar Bush Fellowships in the Public Understanding of Technology and Science, founded by Victor K. McElheny, who retired in 1998.
