Donald G. McNeil Jr.

In 2016, he wrote “Zika: The Emerging Epidemic.”

He also writes occasional first-person features about, for example: bungee-jumping in Africa, quail-hunting in Mississippi, or having eye surgery.

He joined The New York Times in 1976 as a copy boy and has been a night rewrite man, an environmental reporter, a theater columnist and an editor. From 1995 to 2002 he was a foreign correspondent in Africa and Europe and has reported from 60 countries.

He has won awards for stories about places that have successfully fought AIDS, about patent monopolies that keep drug prices high in Africa, about diseases that cannot be eradicated, about cancer victims in poor countries dying without pain relief and about the Love Canal toxic waste dump.

His articles and his appearances on the Times podcast “The Daily” helped raise awareness of the pandemic threat posed by Covid-19.

In 2020, he won the John Chancellor Award for lifetime achievement in journalism.

Mr. McNeil grew up in San Francisco and graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1975 with a B.A. in rhetoric.

He lives in Brooklyn. On weekends, he plays softball and squash; on vacation, he goes camping and fishing. (And he goes by “Donald,” not “Don.”)