Sara Willa Ernst is a reporter with The Cancer Letter. She joined the publication in 2025.
Before joining The Cancer Letter, Sara reported on health in Texas both as a freelance journalist based in Austin and the health reporter at the NPR station in Houston, where she produced two investigative podcasts "Hot Stops" and "Below the Waterlines." The latter won her two regional Murrow awards in 2023.
Her bylines have appeared in publications such as NPR, The Texas Standard, WHYY's The Pulse, WBUR's Here and Now, Austin Free Press and the Austin Chronicle.
She graduated from Vanderbilt University with a bachelor's degree in Communications Studies in 2018.
Free
Earlier this year, amid efforts by the Trump administration to reduce the federal workforce, Lakshmi Grama decided to take early retirement from NCI.
Those anxiously anticipating the release of the U.S. News & World Report‘s evaluation of cancer hospitals will find one intriguing change.
Conversation with The Cancer Letter
The first large cancer screening/early detection initiative to be launched in 2025—the NCI-funded Vanguard study of multi-cancer detection tests—has started accruing patients through nine sites across the U.S.
Conversation with The Cancer Letter
On July 4, President Donald Trump signed into law “The One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which is expected to deal a massive blow to Medicaid coverage and leave millions without insurance by instituting a work requirement for beneficiaries.
Regulatory News
The FDA Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee July 17 recommended against approval of a Blenrep-based regimen for the treatment of relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, citing unacceptable rates of ocular toxicity and overall poor tolerability of the drug.
Cancer Policy
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is searching for examples of employees, grant recipients, and contractors harmed by DEI efforts of the federal government in the last five years, as part of the Trump administration’s mission to end initiatives set up to diversify the workforce and bolster opportunities forhistorically disadvantaged groups.
