Title: National Press Club Now Led by Award-Winning Georgetown Alumna

Alison Fitzgerald Kodjak, who in 1991 graduated from Georgetown with a bachelor’s degree in Italian and European studies, has served as a health policy correspondent on NPR’s Science Desk since 2015. Focusing on the business and politics of health care, she recently was elected president of the National Press Club, the world’s leading professional organization for journalists.

Graduate degree: Master of science in journalism, Northwestern University, Medill School of Journalism, 1994

Hometown: Marshfield, Massachusetts

Prior Professional Experience:

Managing editor/project manager, Center for Public Integrity
Investigative reporter/project reporter, Bloomberg News
Reporter/editor, Associated Press
Adjunct professor of journalism/communications at American University

Recognition: Three George Polk Awards

Most Satisfying Project:

“I’ve worked on many stories and projects that were interesting, exciting and fulfilling,” the longtime journalist explains. “If I have to choose, it would be the project at Bloomberg News where we successfully sued the Federal Reserve when they denied our FOIA request seeking details about the 2008 bank bailouts.”

Book: In Too Deep: BP and the Drilling Race that Took It Down, with co-author Stanley Reed (John Wiley & Sons, 2011).

National Press Club Presidency:

“This is such a critical time for journalists, who are facing major economic challenges and a coordinated assault on theircredibility,” Kodjak explains. “That makes it all the more humbling to be elected president of the Press Club at this moment, and it makes it so much more critical that we work together to advocate for our profession, and provide support to our colleagues in Washington, around the country and around the world.”

Kodjak continues to support a National Press Club effort begun by her predecessor toward the safe release of Austin Tice (SFS’02), a Georgetown Law student and freelance journalist who was taken hostage in Syria in 2012. The club is leading a “Night Out for Austin” on May 2.

Why Georgetown?

“I chose Georgetown because I was very interested in an education with a global perspective,” the alumna says. “Georgetown in the early 1990s was unusual in its commitment to foreign language, international relations and study abroad and I wanted to be a part of that community.”

Undergraduate Service:

DC Schools Project
Georgetown Emergency Response Medical Service (GERMS)

Favorite place on Campus:

“Hanging out on campus in the sun near the tree on Copley Lawn.”