John Donnelly

John Donnelly is a free-lance writer and communications specialist focusing on global health issues. He also is vice president and senior editor at Burness Communications, which works mainly with non-profit groups on development issues. In 2007-2008, he was a Kaiser Family Foundation media fellow, concentrating on US-funded orphan programs in Africa. From 2003 to mid-2006, he opened and ran the Boston Globe’s first-ever Africa bureau. Based in South Africa, he traveled widely around the continent, focusing on a wide range of health issues, including AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and the attempt to eradicate polio; politics; counter-terrorism; development policy; and the future of oil in Africa. Before moving to Africa, he was the Globe’s foreign affairs correspondent for five years, based in Washington. He covered the crisis surrounding the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, the war in Afghanistan, the buildup to the Iraq war, and the war in Iraq. In addition, in 2002, he directed a yearlong global health project at the Globe called "Lives Lost" that looked at how simple interventions could save millions of lives every year. The project won several major awards. In recent years, Donnelly has received awards from the Global Health Council, RESULTS, InterAction, and the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Prior to joining the Globe, he spent four years based in Jerusalem and Cairo covering the Middle East for Knight Ridder and the Miami Herald. He also has worked for the Associated Press in New York City and in Vermont, and was a staff reporter for the Burlington (Vt.) Free Press.