Lisa Miller
New York Times Correspondent & Author
I like to write narrative stories about regular people striving for health amid adversity, conflict and misinformation. Good health equals happiness, freedom and autonomy, but each human interprets these values differently, and the obstacles to attaining health are different in every case. Poverty, genetics, mental illness, environment and bad luck all impede the attainment of health. Meanwhile culture and social media bombard us with constant — and conflicting — messages about what a “healthy” body, mind, relationship, partnership, workplace, routine and diet should look like. How is a person supposed to navigate all this? My favorite stories refute easy answers and honor the messiness of real life.
Before coming to The Times, I wrote about religion at Newsweek and The Wall Street Journal and about social issues — mental health, guns, parenting, crime, education — for New York magazine. I value truth-telling above all, no matter how uncomfortable or unpopular it may be, and I am grateful to the people who decide to talk to me and tell our readers about the hardest and most intimate episodes of their lives. As a reporter I am straightforward, and when speaking with sources and subjects I try to be constantly mindful that trust is earned, not given.
