Matthew Ong, associate editor of The Cancer Letter, was selected as a finalist in the 2015 Best in Business Awards for Outstanding Business Journalism.
The Society of American Business Editors and Writers recognized Ong’s series, “How Medical Devices Do Harm,” as the first runner up in the Print Weeklies/Biweeklies Investigative category. In a two-year investigation, Ong examined how doctors, hospitals, and manufacturers can, as a practical matter, conceal the fact that a device has caused harm and allow adverse outcomes to go unreported. The controversy, which stemmed from an initial focus on power morcellators and FDA regulation of medical devices, has become the focus of investigations launched by Congress, FBI and the Government Accountability Office.
“The Cancer Letter’s coverage of dangerous medical devices provided an important public service by examining the problems that arise with these devices and the regulatory lapses that helped these problems develop,” the judges noted. “The Cancer Letter covered incremental developments over a lengthy period, but also took the time to step back and do necessary big-picture stories on the issue.”
Ong previously won three first place awards, from the National Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, and the Washington, D.C. Professional Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, for his 2014 coverage of the controversy over power morcellation (The Cancer Letter, July 2, 2015).
