Helen Branswell is a senior writer at STAT, covering infectious diseases and global health. Branswell joined STAT at its 2015 launch. Previously, she worked for The Canadian Press, where she was medical reporter from 2000 to 2015.

Branswell was a 2004 CDC Knight Fellow, when she embedded in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for three months. She was a 2011 Nieman Global Health Fellow at Harvard, focusing on polio eradication. She won the 2020 George Polk Award for Public Service and with colleagues was a 2020 Pulitzer finalist for breaking news for coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic. She won the 2021 Victor Cohn Prize for Excellence in Medical Science Reporting.