Hollis Johnson/Business Insider
Hello,
Dear readers, somehow, we’ve made it to the final day of 2020. How are you feeling? I’m awash with emotion reflecting on this roller coaster of a year. It’s a year that’s brought so much joy and sorrow – professionally and personally – for so many.
As we head in to 2021, the healthcare team here at Business Insider is here to guide you through all of the happenings in the industry. But before we do, I wanted to reflect on some of the stories I’m most proud of from our team, which has grown so much since the first week of January when Zach Tracer and I were a team of two blogging away about healthcare.
This year, I’m grateful for smart analysis, reporting that broke news, and – most especially – a team big enough for a few five-reporter bylines.
Here are some of the stories we’re most proud of from the year – arranged chronologically for a reminder of just how much has transpired in the past year
- In March – before lockdowns began – Andrew Dunn flew up to Moderna’s headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts. There, he got the inside story of how a buzzy biotech upstart developed a now-authorized coronavirus vaccine in record time.
- Shortly after, I got my hands on a presentation that US hospitals were using to prepare for a major coronavirus outbreak. Published in February, it estimated that there’d be 96 million US coronavirus cases and 480,000 deaths, which seemed extremely high at the time. To date, there have been almost 20 million cases, and more than 340,000 deaths.
- In September, Blake Dodge and Hugh Langley reported on Google’s secretive healthcare business, which wants to organize the world’s health information. Insiders describe how turf wars and trust issues were hamstringing the operation.
- Megan Hernbroth in October rounded up the 16 up-and-coming investors changing the face of healthcare in the US. It’s an impressive list of rising stars in VC.
- Also in October, the entire team came together to compile the 30 leaders under 40 transforming healthcare. Now in my fourth year pulling this list together, it was so great to report on such an impressive group with such a great team!
- Right around Thanksgiving, Megan got a inside look at Papa, a startup leading the charge to have gig workers transform an essential but invisible part of healthcare.
- As vaccine development wrapped up, Shelby Livingston and Allana Akhtar spoke to hospitals across the country about how they’re gearing up to give the first COVID-19 shots to millions of healthcare workers.
- Meanwhile, Blake Dodge in December got inside Amazon Care, the group within Amazon that wants to provide medical care to workers at major companies. Investors took note of her reporting, sending telehealth stocks tumbling.
- To close out the year, Andrew, Blake, Megan, Shelby, and our UK healthcare reporter Dr. Catherine Schuster-Bruce talked to massive list of VCs. The VCs shared with the group 35 healthcare startups they expect to take off in 2021.
- The VCs also shared with the team their 2021 predictions. From a surge in startups addressing where medicine falls short to a big year for digital health IPOs, here’s what you might expect in the coming year.
With that, I hope you all have a Happy New Year! See you in 2021.
– Lydia
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