Jean Heller

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Jean Heller is an American writer and former investigative journalist. She is best known for publishing the news of the Tuskegee syphilis study in 1972,[1][2] and reporting the inaccurate claims by the United States of an Iraqi buildup on the Saudi Arabian border during the Gulf War in 1990.[3][4] She has reported for the St. Petersburg Times, Newsday and the Associated Press.

Education[edit]

Jean Heller graduated from The Ohio State University School of Journalism in 1964.

Career[edit]

In 1972, Associated Press colleague Edith Lederer provided Heller with evidence she had received from whistleblower Peter Buxtun detailing that, for four decades, people enrolled in the Tuskegee study had been deliberately denied treatment for syphilis.[5] Years later, Heller called the story "one of the grossest violations of human rights I can imagine".[6] Her article exposing the unethical study was published in the Washington Star on July 25, 1972, and it became front-page news in the New York Times the following day. The exposé earned Heller the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, the Raymond Clapper Memorial Award, and the George Polk Award.[7][8]

Heller also writes the Deuce Mora series of novels, which feature a fictional Chicago newspaper columnist.[9]

Personal life[edit]

Heller lives in North Carolina.[5]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "America's Dirty Little Secret". Retrieved 2007-11-30.
  2. ^ Heller, Jean (July 26, 1972). "Syphilis . While Jean Heller published the story, it was social worker Peter Buxtun, a former employee of the United States Public Health Service who was the whistleblower responsible for ending the Tuskegee syphilis experiment. Victims in the U.S. Study Went Untreated for 40 Years". New York Times. pp. 1, 8.
  3. ^ "No casus belli? Invent one!". Guardian News. Archived from the original on 2007-06-08. Retrieved 2007-11-30.
  4. ^ Heller, Jean (1991-01-06). "Photos don't show buildup". St. Petersburg Times.
  5. ^ a b Breed, Allen G (2022-07-25). "How an AP reporter broke the Tuskegee syphilis story". AP NEWS. Retrieved 2022-07-25.
  6. ^ Brown, DeNeen L. (16 May 2017). "'You've got bad blood': The horror of the Tuskegee syphilis experiment". Washington Post. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  7. ^ "AP Reporter Wins Journalism Award". Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph. Vol. 102, no. 32673. Associated Press. April 26, 1973. p. 10-D. Retrieved May 2, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ BREED, ALLEN G. (July 24, 2022). "How an AP reporter broke the Tuskegee syphilis story". Associated Press. Seattle Times.
  9. ^ Bancroft, Colette (7 November 2018). "Jean Heller and Cheryl Hollon bring back engaging mystery series". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 10 November 2019.