Gina Kolata is a reporter at The Times, focusing on science and medicine. Her training is in science: She studied molecular biology on the graduate level at M.I.T. for a year and a half and has a master’s degree in applied mathematics from the University of Maryland.

Her work at The Times has led her to be a Pulitzer finalist twice — for investigative reporting in 2000 and for explanatory journalism in 2010. Other writing awards include ones in 2010 from the Silurian Society for a series on the war on cancer and from The Associated Press Sports Editors for writing about the Caster Semenya intersex controversy at the world track championships.

In previous years she has received awards from other groups, including the American Association of Health Care Journalists, and the University of Maryland, which gave her a Distinguished Alumnus award. Bowdoin College awarded her an honorary doctoral degree. And she was made a Kentucky Colonel, just like Col. Sanders.

She is the author of six books, the most recent of which is "Mercies in Disguise: A Story of Hope, a Family's Genetic Destiny, and The Science That Saved Them.”