Helen Branswell, a journalist celebrated for her decades of coverage of public health and infectious diseases, has died at the age of 69.
The Sherbrooke, Que.-born reporter died Tuesday, according to an article from STAT, the Boston-based health and medicine news site she had worked for since its founding in 2015.
Her sister, Brenda Branswell, confirmed to the outlet she died of complications from cancer. She had moved back to Canada last year, after a decade in Boston, to be closer to family, STAT reported.
“She loved her work,” Brenda Branswell told STAT. “She loved science and medical writing. She thought her job was a gift. She found it so interesting.”
Branswell’s fellow journalists, members of the medical community and some of the world’s top health officials are mourning the loss of a revered reporter.
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), said he was among those “privileged to work with Helen over many years.”
“Throughout her career, Helen demonstrated an unwavering commitment to evidence, science and truth, helping the public understand some of the most complex and consequential health challenges of our time,” he wrote in a post on the social media platform X.
