COOK, Gareth 1970(?)-

PERSONAL: Born c. 1970, in Ann Arbor, MI; married; wife's name Amanda; children: Aidan. Education: Brown University, B.A. and B.S., both 1991.

ADDRESSES: Home—Jamaica Plain, MA. Office—Boston Globe Main Office, 135 Morrissey Blvd., Boston, MA 02107. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Journalist. Foreign Policy magazine, Washington, DC, assistant editor, 1991–93; U.S. News & World Report, Washington, DC, reporter, 1993–94; Washington Monthly, Washington, DC, editor, 1995–96; Boston Phoenix, Boston, MA, news editor, 1996–98; Boston Globe, Boston, MA, began as New England editor, became Sunday Metro editor, science reporter, 1999–.

AWARDS, HONORS: Pulitzer Prize for explanatory journalism, 2005, for series on embryonic stem-cell research.

SIDELIGHTS: In 2004, Boston Globe science reporter Gareth Cook became increasingly frustrated that despite extensive media coverage on the subject of embryonic stem cell research, journalists seemed to lean heavily on the ethical and political issues surrounding the use of stem cells, ignoring the basic science of the research and the personal stories of those emotionally involved with the various issues. Thus began a year-long endeavor that took Cook around the world to learn about the most up-to-date technologies and search out individuals and families who have been impacted by stem cell research. The resulting series published in the Boston Globe earned Cook the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for explanatory journalism.

Cook's series ran from April to December, 2004, and included eight stories that covered the scientific, the political, and the personal. A May story described the advances being made in stem cell research around the world, as American researchers struggled against federal mandates that prohibit the use of government funds to finance such research domestically. In September, Cook profiled a couple on a desperate search of a cure for their son's deteriorating muscular dystrophy, a search that takes them to a Ukrainian clinic experimenting with MD stem cell treatments.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Boston Globe, April 5, 2005, Raja Mishra, "Curiosity about Stem Cells Launched Journey," p. A13.

Telegram & Gazette, April 5, 2005, Ken Maguire, "Science Reporter at Globe Wins Pulitzer," p. A2.

ONLINE

Pulitzer Prizes Web site, http://www.pulitzer.org/ (June 14, 2005).