A native of Ohio, Baylen graduated from Ohio University’s School of Visual Communications in 2001 and began her career at the Washington Times. During her five years there she concentrated on in-depth photo essays, specializing in covering psychological trauma. In 2005, she left Washington to pursue a freelance career in New York.
Baylen’s coverage of the aftermath of Haiti’s earthquake in both photography and multimedia earned her the 2011 Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award. She was also a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2009 for her contribution to the Los Angeles Times / ProPublica series “When Caregivers Harm,” a piece exposing gaps in California’s oversight of dangerous and incompetent nurses, which blended investigative scrutiny and multimedia storytelling that affected corrective changes. In 2002 she was a Pulitzer finalist for her contribution to the Washington Times’ staff coverage of the D.C. sniper.  Baylen’s work has been honored by the National Press Photographers Assn., Pictures of the Year International and the White House News Photographers Assn.

liz.baylen@latimes.com