Irena Hwang

I covered public health and the agencies that oversee it, including the FDA and CDC.

What I Covered

I used computational analysis tools to identify and quantify public health issues.

My Background

I joined ProPublica in 2021. Here, I’ve reported on a wide range of issues, including criminal justice, food safety, environmental justice and race.

Prior to ProPublica, I worked at NPR, The Associated Press and The Dallas Morning News. Before my career in journalism, I completed a doctorate in electrical engineering at Stanford University, with a focus on bioinformatics and signal processing. I studied electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The FDA Let Substandard Factories Ship These Medications to the U.S.

ProPublica identified more than 150 products that were exempted from import bans since 2013. Our list provides the names of the drugs or ingredients and their manufacturers, many of which are no longer banned.

August 12, 2025, 5:05 am EDT