my editor assigned me a story about a local barbershop, I felt confident. Even though I had never gotten a haircut at a barbershop, I knew that my lifetime of building trust with people in different contexts would prepare me for this moment.

Since this experience, mistrust in the medical community continues to grow.

My name is Michal Ruprecht and I am a freelance journalist helping build trust among physicians, scientists and the public. I write disruptive stories that contribute to improved scientific and medical understanding among underserved communities.

Most recently, I took my passion for storytelling to MedPage Today, where I supported cardiology and neurology research coverage. I covered groundbreaking studies on transgender youth and teen vaping. I also published a two-month-long investigation about the pervasive culture of piracy among medical students. The article received 10,000 page views in one week and my stories were featured on the front pages of the American Medical Association and Cleveland Clinic newsletters. In addition to reporting, I helped manage the Twitter account for the cardiology desk and I increased user engagement. I currently serve on the editorial advisory board of MedPage Today.

I also reported for The Nation's Health, a publication of the American Public Health Association. I covered social science literature about the pandemic and healthcare disparities. I also was the sole reporter for National Public Health Week, a five-day nationwide event.

I covered science and health news from the University of Michigan, one of the nation’s largest healthcare systems, as a beat reporter and assistant editor for The Michigan Daily, my school's independent newspaper. I led coverage on the first conjoined twin separation in the state of Michigan and interviewed renowned vaccine researcher Florian Krammer. In addition to beat reporting, I published a seven-month-long investigation on the culture of silence among student researchers. I discovered and corroborated three incidents of alleged abuse in research labs at the University of Michigan, the highest-ranked public research university in the country, and an academic department revised its reporting system as a result of my reporting. I worked on two other investigations into alleged COVID-19 violations at a restaurant and poor CMS quality measures at a university clinic.

Beyond The Daily, I told the stories of families and patients with epilepsy who started the ketogenic diet to treat their symptoms. I co-produced a podcast episode that featured their experiences.

I am a first-year M.D. student at Wayne State University School of Medicine broadly interested in child neurology. I received a B.S. in neuroscience from the University of Michigan in 2022, where I leveraged community action and social change to partner with individuals affected by the Flint water crisis. Outside of work, I am passionate about brewing kombucha, ceramics, yoga, swimming, running and traveling. I enjoy listening to “How I Built This” and reading STAT's Morning Rounds.

I am available for freelance assignments and I can be reached at mruprecht@umich.edu, on Twitter @michalruprecht or on Signal at (707) 412-8684. Find some of my favorite clips on this page.