Jan Hoffman

I am a health reporter, covering drug addiction and health law for The New York Times.

What I Cover

I’m currently looking at treatment and prevention solutions to the addiction crisis as well as obstacles to implementing them. These stories are best conveyed, I believe, by those affected by drugs: people who use them, family members, treatment providers and urban and rural residents in neighborhoods where drug trafficking flourishes.

On this beat, I wrote about flesh-wasting “tranq dope” in Philadelphia for which I received an award from the Newswomen’s Club of New York and “gas station heroin,” an addictive supplement available in convenience stores and smoke shops.

I’m always searching for through lines to make better sense of this national public health emergency. Please send story suggestions (contact info below).

My other areas of coverage in the Health and Science section have included reproductive rights, tribal child welfare, adolescent mental health and sexually transmitted diseases. My work on addiction extends from my years of reporting on the national opioid litigation, including the Purdue Pharma cases.

My Background

It’s anything but linear. As a staff writer for The Village Voice, where I profiled rock and country music stars and also wrote about domestic violence, murder and rape, I was awarded a journalism fellowship at Yale Law School. That led to my first beat at The Times: legal affairs correspondent for the Metro section. I have also written for Newsday, The Wall Street Journal, GQ, Mademoiselle, Premiere, New York and Mirabella.

I was one of the chief contributors to The Times’s Portraits of Grief section, the thumbnail sketches of the victims of Sept. 11, which won a Pulitzer Prize for public service. During the pandemic, I wrote about vaccine hesitancy as part of The Times’ effort covering Covid-19, which was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for public service.

Although I have always been singularly focused on stories of those who struggle to be heard — children, teens, the incarcerated — I have also written lighter fare. I profiled a rising 15-year-old pop star named Justin Bieber and witnessed the overnight koshering of the Obama White House kitchen for a Hanukkah party. I will find almost any excuse to write about dogs.

I graduated from Cornell University and received a master’s degree from Yale Law School. My happy place is still “the shore,” never “the beach,” because, yes, I am a die-hard Jersey Girl.

Journalistic Ethics

As a Times journalist, I am committed to upholding the standards of integrity outlined in our Ethical Journalism Handbook. In writing about addiction, I frequently ask people about harrowing, often illegal activities, and work to protect their privacy. But my contract with readers is firm: I fact check rigorously and seek out a diversity of views and experiences, always striving to present a deeper understanding of these complex situations.

• Email: hoffman@nytimes.com

• Anonymous tips: nytimes.com/tips