Nicole Hayden

I am a health reporter for the Desert Sun in Palm Springs, California, focusing on public health issues. My 2018 USC CHJ Data Fellowship is focused on homelessness and public health. I am also a participating reporter in the USC Center for Health Journalism Reporting Collaborative project on California’s uninsured. I have worked for the USA Today Network for five years, most recently in California. Previously, I was the lead investigative reporter at the Times Herald in Michigan, where I worked on a yearlong opioid-abuse project that impacted local policy decisions. Further, I wrote many award-winning enterprise stories about homelessness and led an investigation that exposed a pastor who sexually assaulted a woman in his church.