Marissa Evans moves to Entertainment to report on the intersection of health and Hollywood

The following announcement is sent on behalf of Assistant Managing Editor Craig Nakano and Deputy Entertainment Editor Nate Jackson:

We’re excited to welcome Marissa Evans to the Entertainment team.

Marissa comes to us from Metro, where she reported on healthcare and communities of color in California. During her time there she broke a story of Cedars-Sinai facing a federal civil rights investigation, how California is fighting against maternal deaths, how Asian therapists coped in the aftermath of the 2021 Atlanta mass shooting, and how the history of the HIV/AIDS epidemic shaped how men of color considered the MPX crisis last year. She also helped with the Times’s COVID-19 coverage including stories about how hospitals were faring with surges and efforts to get more people vaccinated.

She about wrote moms who delayed weaning their kids from breastfeeding so they could pass on COVID-19 vaccine antibodies to them, and another compelling story about how Emmett Till’s family felt about hearing people wanting an “Emmett Till moment” to stop school shootings.

In her new role, she will dive into the intersection of health and Hollywood, whether the subject is health insurance for striking actors, the science behind a star’s concert voice or the mental health of teenage influencers.

We’re also eager for Marissa to apply her love of pop culture to other kinds of assignments across the worlds of music, TV, movies and books, with occasional contributions helping to extend “Behold” into a year-round look at Black L.A. Marissa is no stranger to Entertainment.

Her stories have included an interview with Oprah Winfrey about her documentary “The Color of Care,” which focused on how COVID-19 has exposed racial inequities in the health system. Winfrey had read Marissa’s heartbreaking and insightful essay reflecting on her grief as a health reporter after losing her father to COVID-19. last year. Marissa’s essay was recently recognized with a L.A. Press Club award and narrated the essay for Apple News.

Before joining The Times in 2021, Evans worked for the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, where she covered housing, Black community trauma after the death of George Floyd and how communities of color have been affected by COVID-19. She also previously reported for the Texas Tribune, Roll Call and Kaiser Health News. In 2018, Evans won an Online News Assn. award for explanatory reporting for a project on Texas’ maternal mortality crisis.

Evans is also a trainer with the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting, which aims to increase the ranks of journalists of color in the field. She has a degree in journalism from Marquette University.

Evans, who is reporting to deputy editor Nate Jackson, started her new position Monday.