Christopher O'DonnellHealth and Medicine Reporter
I’m a political junkie and I love literature so this job fits like a glove. But journalism wasn’t my first career. I was born and grew up in England and programmed computers for a living. I switched to reporting when I moved to Florida in 2001. I got my first break at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune after earning a journalism degree from the University of South Florida. I joined the Tampa Bay Times in 2016 after a three-year stint at the Tampa Tribune, where I covered city halls on both sides of Tampa Bay. When I’m not shouting at cable news, I love watching real football from England (alright, soccer) and riding my road bike on trails.
/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/tbt/c5cf5bc9-e129-44be-a448-3609c40d48b7.png "Christopher O'Donnell - Health and Medicine Reporter")
![Jeanette Jennings, mother of transgender advocate Jazz Jennings, speaks in 2020 at a news conference in the Florida Capitol against a bill that would have made it a felony for doctors to provide minors with hormone therapy or to perform sex reassignment surgery. The bill did not pass but Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration is proposing a rule that would prevent the state’s Medicaid program from reimbursing providers for a series of therapies meant to treat gender dysphoria.](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 562 316"/%3E "Jeanette Jennings, mother of transgender advocate Jazz Jennings, speaks in 2020 at a news conference in the Florida Capitol against a bill that would have made it a felony for doctors to provide minors with hormone therapy or to perform sex reassignment surgery. The bill did not pass but Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration is proposing a rule that would prevent the state’s Medicaid program from reimbursing providers for a series of therapies meant to treat gender dysphoria.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/U3P3ZURIPZE5VLZXIUW3NJ7MQ4.jpg "Jeanette Jennings, mother of transgender advocate Jazz Jennings, speaks in 2020 at a news conference in the Florida Capitol against a bill that would have made it a felony for doctors to provide minors with hormone therapy or to perform sex reassignment surgery. The bill did not pass but Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration is proposing a rule that would prevent the state’s Medicaid program from reimbursing providers for a series of therapies meant to treat gender dysphoria.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/S5FZFBMU5FBYPIGHJKF6M6YU74.jpg "Protesters march during an abortion rights rally on Saturday, June 25, 2022, on the corner of East Fowler Avenue and North 56th Street in Temple Terrace.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/MQ73ELQ4I5HG5C53HJQND7Y7Y4.JPG "Nurse Jordan Dierksheide and Medical Assistant Cassandra Ross help administer a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to JoseMaria Mejia, 7, of Ruskin, during a vaccination event hosted by Enterprising Latinas at Wimauma Opportunity Center in Wimauma on Nov. 14, 2021. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier this month recommended COVID-19 vaccines for kids under age 5, but some Florida parents are struggling to get young children vaccinated.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/DNIDKIG2JI7NTUVCRNXY3I7R4Q.jpg "Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo, front left, gestures as speaks before a bill signing by Gov. Ron DeSantis, front right, Nov. 18, 2021, in Brandon.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/ANEZYATBFVH3JCYXP66IYBZ2XA.JPG "The approximate location of the new Orlando Health Wiregrass Ranch Hospital in Pasco County. The first phase of the hospital could begin construction by the end of this year.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/F4KTUJ6SE7MTKPHPF3UKERHLJY.jpg "Samples are tested June 6 for the monkeypox virus at a microbiology laboratory in La Paz Hospital in Madrid, Spain.")
![Esta imagen de microscopio electrónico de 2003 proporcionada por los Centros para el Control y la Prevención de Enfermedades muestra viriones maduros de viruela del mono de forma ovalada, a la izquierda, y viriones inmaduros esféricos, a la derecha, obtenidos de una muestra de piel humana asociada con el brote de perros de las praderas de 2003. La viruela del mono, una enfermedad que rara vez aparece fuera de África, se ha extendido por todo el mundo y los primeros casos ya han llegado al condado de Pinellas. [ CYNTHIA S. GOLDSMITH, RUSSELL REGNER | Centros para el Control y la Prevención de Enfermedades | AP]](https://www.tampabay.com/resizer//fJR3H8Ws9p489YBMnIPXXdUjLBA=/200x112/filters:format(webP)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/FSGC47ZFC42W53LBKQBC3U74MM.jpg "Esta imagen de microscopio electrónico de 2003 proporcionada por los Centros para el Control y la Prevención de Enfermedades muestra viriones maduros de viruela del mono de forma ovalada, a la izquierda, y viriones inmaduros esféricos, a la derecha, obtenidos de una muestra de piel humana asociada con el brote de perros de las praderas de 2003. La viruela del mono, una enfermedad que rara vez aparece fuera de África, se ha extendido por todo el mundo y los primeros casos ya han llegado al condado de Pinellas. [ CYNTHIA S. GOLDSMITH, RUSSELL REGNER | Centros para el Control y la Prevención de Enfermedades | AP]")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/GP4446VJDZCTXFHZC7J7SYZKSY.jpg "This 2003 electron microscope image made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows mature, oval-shaped monkeypox virions, left, and spherical immature virions, right, obtained from a sample of human skin associated with the 2003 prairie dog outbreak. Monkeypox, a disease that rarely appears outside Africa, has spread across the world and the first cases have now reached Pinellas County.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/6NBVCSEE6TFHPMQGEYTKXNVQ2M.jpg "Florida tendrá su restricción de aborto más estricta en medio siglo. Para muchos es una situación confusa.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/2GUPX6HN6RB6ZNTNGEUISWPZRE.PNG "The Cape Coral office of Children's Network of Southwest Florida. The nonprofit took over Hillsborough County's foster care system Friday. The contract is worth $90 million per year.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/5ELF5WC455HHDFRLA5E76YBSVI.JPG "Los funcionarios de salud están refiriendo a las familias a “centros de salud federalmente calificados”, clínicas generalmente administradas por organizaciones sin fines de lucro.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/WKOYJM4OUGFPHT6WJ4NOZIP4MI.jpg "Housekeeper Tonia Harvey cleans a bed in the Roseland Community Hospital intensive care unit after a COVID-19 patient passed away, April 17, 2020.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/X7LPBOUMFFDEZEQ724YNQDM23Q.JPG "Sarrah Vesselov, 44, is a married mother of two and small business owner. She poses for a portrait May 13 while working as a graphic designer from her shop, the Your Turn Cafe in Zephyrhills. She said her family, her education and her business would not be possible if she hadn't had access legal abortion at age 19.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/P6U6FB6PITYJLVYPJCTN6RRQGM.jpg "Publix, el empleador privado más grande del estado, no ofrecerá la vacuna recientemente aprobada para niños menores de 4 años.")
:format(webP)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/HTEPISTUZVCZVERLUDIJNWZAA4.jpg "(From top left) Delquanda Turner Smith, 46, and Erik Smith, 50, pose for a portrait with their two sons (bottom left), Erik Smith, 4, and Carlton Smith, 3, outside their home on Tuesday, June 21, 2022 in St. Petersburg. The two sons have an immune disorder which leaves them vulnerable to illnesses, including covid. The Smith’s hope to vaccinate their sons soon as federal officials recently announced their approval of the COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 4 and under.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/X3AFPNK3OZBGNFT55J3COCUILQ.jpg "White House COVID-19 response coordinator Ashish Jha speaks during the April 26 daily briefing at the White House. Jha said Friday that Florida's failure to preorder doses of the vaccine for children 4 and under will delay delivery to the state's pediatricians, children’s hospitals and medical facilities.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/ASNRSYJCDZAFVGOQIBDYMXDSGA.png "A photomicrograph of the bacteria “Neisseria meningitidis” recovered from the urethra of an asymptomatic male and magnified. The bacteria causes meningococcal disease, a serious disease that is spreading in Florida, state health officials say.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/GPVDDOZ33RBGHN42ZTD6ZQW4CE.JPG "Isaih Epps, 15, get his first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine during a vaccination clinic for children and adults ages 5 and up at Turkey Creek Middle School on December 2021 in Plant City. Thousands of medical facilities across the country will get vaccine doses for young children, according to a Herald report, but Florida facilities that rely on the federal pipeline may not until the state places its order.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/WOQ74BDNIRHNFLRTRDJJ62XSFU.jpg "The Pinellas County Courthouse in downtown Clearwater.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/F3QC2ROJG5F3RMLZUXSXHZ43RQ.jpeg "El primer centro de Walmart Health en Tampa Bay se inauguró en Wesley Chapel Supercenter. Marca la expansión del gigante minorista en el mercado de atención médica de Florida.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/PFL6MBXWZNH5XNHZATUKDF466E.jpg "Nurses rally outside HCA Florida Oak Hill Hospital Tuesday morning to call for more nurses to be hired. They warned that a shortage of nurses in the hospital is threating patient safety.")
