Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wins Pulitzer for series highlighting MCW faculty and CHW staff achievement

A team of Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporters won the Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting Monday for the series, "One in a Billion: A boy's life, a medical mystery," which chronicled the efforts of a team of physicians and researchers at The Medical College of Wisconsin and Children's Hospital of Wisconsin who sequenced a boy's DNA to find clues about his illness. According to experts in the field, this is the first time a gene sequence had clinical relevance in the world.

The Pulitzer Prize winning reporters Mark Johnson and Kathleen Gallagher began pursuing the story in February 2010. They were part of a team that also included a photographer, a multimedia producer and a graphics editor, who brought the story to life in the newspaper, online and in videos. The first of three in-depth articles appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in December. It paved the way for placements on NBC's Today Show and in international media in Spain, Japan and elsewhere.

Congratulations to everyone involved in Nic Volker's groundbreaking genetic sequencing, diagnoses and treatment, including:

  • Marjorie Arca, MD, Pediatric Surgery, CHW; and associate professor of Surgery (Pediatric), MCW.

  • David Dimmock, MD, Genetics, CHW; and assistant professor of Pediatrics (Genetics), MCW.

  • Howard Jacob, PhD, director of the Human and Molecular Genetics Center, Warren P. Knowles Professor of Human and Molecular Genetics, professor of Physiology, and vice chair of Research in the department of Pediatrics, MCW.

  • David Margolis, MD, director of Blood and Marrow Transplant, Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, CHW; and professor of Pediatrics (Hematology/Oncology), MCW.

  • Jack Routes, MD, medical director of Allergy/Immunology, CHW; and professor of Pediatrics (Allergy and Immunology), Medicine, and Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, section chief of Allergy and Immunology, MCW.

  • Mike Tschannen, Research Associate, MCW.

  • James Verbsky MD, PhD, Pediatric Rheumatology, CHW; and assistant professor of Pediatrics (Rheumatology) and Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, MCW.