Jen Christensen

CNN Health & Climate Unit

Jen Christensen is a producer with CNN's Health & Climate Unit, a documentary & data producer, and a reporter with CNN.com
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CDC warns of multistate E. coli outbreak tied to recalled walnuts
May 1, 2024
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a warning Tuesday about a multistate E. coli outbreak connected to walnuts.
The headquarters building of the Central Intelligence Agency is seen in Langley, Virginia, in 2022.
Susan Walsh/AP/File
‘There is so much anger’: Havana syndrome victims frustrated CIA isn’t blaming Russia for symptoms
May 1, 2024
When Bill Burns became CIA director in March 2021, he vowed to investigate a strange mystery afflicting a growing number of soldiers, spies and diplomats who reported a sudden onset of debilitating symptoms, including severe headaches, loss of balance and reduced cognitive function.
Steam rises from the Miller coal Power Plant in Adamsville, Alabama on April 11, 2021.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images
Biden administration finalizes new rules for power plants in one of its most significant climate actions to-date
May 1, 2024
The Biden administration finalized rules to cut climate pollution from power plants
Certain models of the Philips Dreamstation Auto have been recalled
From Philips
Philips reaches $1.1 billion settlement for CPAP machine lawsuits, admits no fault or liability
Apr 30, 2024
Medical device maker Philips announced a nearly $1.1 billion personal injury settlement over some of its CPAP, ventilators and BiPAP machines that were at the heart of a massive recall in 2021. The company also agreed to pay $25 million in a medical monitoring settlement.
The Environmental Protection Agency headquarters, seen through the dark green leaves of a tree.
Stefani Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images
EPA implements toughest restrictions yet on use of highly toxic chemical in paint stripper
Apr 30, 2024
The US Environmental Protection Agency finalized a rule Tuesday that will end many uses of the highly toxic, cancer-causing solvent methylene chloride. The chemical will still be available for certain purposes, but with new guidelines meant to keep workers safe.
The US Supreme Court is seen in Washington, DC on February 8, 2022.
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Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images
Supreme Court hears case about emergency abortion care
Apr 24, 2024
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in another major abortion access case as it grapples with the aftermath of reversing Roe v. Wade. Follow here for live audio of the arguments, news updates, analysis and more.
SALT LAKE CITY, UT - APRIL 26: In this photo illustration a 10 pack and one dose bottles of measles, mumps and rubella virus vaccine, made by MERCK, sits on a counter at the Salt Lake County Health Department on April 26, 2019 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo Illustration by George Frey/Getty Images)
George Frey/Getty Images
Mother of Chicago child with measles: It was ‘one of the scarier moments of my life’
Apr 22, 2024
When Jessica Coletti’s 3-year-old son Vincent lost his usual pep last month, she worried that something was really wrong.
An injection pen of Zepbound is displayed in New York City in December 2023.
Brendan McDermid/Reuters/File
Weight loss drug Zepbound may help people with obstructive sleep apnea, drugmaker says
Apr 18, 2024
Zepbound, a popular weight loss drug, also seems to help people with obstructive sleep apnea, drugmaker Eli Lilly said Wednesday.
This image provided by NOAA shows a smalltooth sawfish. Endangered smalltooth sawfish, marine creatures virtually unchanged for millions of years, are exhibiting erratic spinning behavior and dying in unusual numbers in Florida waters. Federal and state wildlife agencies are beginning an effort to rescue and rehabilitate sawfish to find out why. (NOAA via AP)
NOAA/Handout/AP
Six rare sawfish deaths in 7 days have scientists baffled amid bizarre Florida fish behavior
Apr 12, 2024
The smalltooth sawfish, a critically endangered animal, seems to be in even more danger than usual in the Florida seas.
People in a slum work in a saw mill with downtown in the distance in Lagos, Nigeria, Tuesday May 12, 2020. Dim Coumou, a climate professor at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, said the combination of growth in African cities and climate change presents a serious risk. “As the population increases in these megacities, you have more buildings, more concrete and an increased heat-island effect, making the heat waves worse,” Coumou says. “I think it’s a dangerous combination.”
Sunday Alamba/AP
Extreme temperatures are tied to more than half a million stroke deaths a year. With climate change, expect more
Apr 10, 2024
In 2019 alone, more than half a million people died due to a stroke linked to high and low temperatures, a new study found. With the world getting warmer due to human-made climate change, that number is expected to rise.
A woman pours water from a faucet into a glass in Long Island, New York, in October 2022.
Steve Pfost/Newsday RM/Getty Images
Biden administration sets first national standard to limit ‘forever chemicals’ in drinking water
Apr 10, 2024
The Biden administration finalized the first national standard to limit dangerous “forever chemicals” found in nearly half of the drinking water in the United States. Some environmentalists called the new rule a “huge breakthrough” and “historic” change that can help protect human health.
Boxes of Wegovy made by Novo Nordisk are seen at a pharmacy in London, Britain March 8, 2024. REUTERS/Hollie Adams
Hollie Adams/Reuters
Weight-loss drug Wegovy offers benefits for people with diabetes and common form of heart failure, study finds
Apr 6, 2024
The popular weight loss drug Wegovy seems to provide a lot more health benefits for people who have diabetes and a common kind of heart failure than just helping take off the pounds, according to a new study.
Transmission electron microscopic image of two Influenza A (H5N1) virions, a type of bird flu virus Note the glycoprotein spikes along the surface of the virion and as a stippled appearance of the viral envelope encasing each virion.
CDC
Response to bird flu outbreak is ‘robust,’ CDC says, although risk to public remains low
Apr 4, 2024
Bird flu is affecting a growing number of cattle herds in the US, and these infections have led to only the second known human case in the nation, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 28: In this photo illustration, menthol cigarettes sit on a table on April 28, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is proposing to ban both menthol-flavored cigarettes and flavored cigars in a move hailed by public health experts which could potentially lead to 1.3 million people quitting smoking. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Mario Tama/Getty Images
Civil rights, medical groups sue FDA over ‘almost unconscionable’ delay in ban on menthol tobacco products
Apr 3, 2024
A coalition of civil rights and medical organizations said Tuesday that they are suing the US Food and Drug Administration because it has missed its own deadline to take action to ban menthol cigarettes.
Digitally-colorized transmission electron microscopic image of Avian Influenza A H5N1 virus particles (seen in gold), grown in Madin-Darby Canine Kidney (MDCK) epithelial cells (seen in green).
Cynthia Goldsmith/CDC
CDC confirms second reported case of bird flu in a person in the US
Apr 1, 2024
A person who worked on a dairy farm and had “direct contact with dairy cattle” tested positive for avian flu in Texas late last week, the state’s Department of State Health Services said Monday. The case was confirmed by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over the weekend, the department said.
Ivermectin tablets arranged in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned Americans against taking ivermectin, a drug usually used on animals, as a treatment or prevention for Covid-19. Photographer: Dimas Ardian/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Dimas Ardian/Bloomberg/Getty Images
FDA settles lawsuit over ivermectin content that doctors claimed harmed their practice
Mar 27, 2024
The US Food and Drug Administration has settled a lawsuit over some of its posts about ivermectin, including what may have been one of its more popular pandemic-era social media campaigns.

About

Jen Christensen is a producer with CNN’s Health, Medical and Wellness Unit. In addition, she produces multi-platform projects and documentaries, primarily for CNN Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. She also does data analysis and is a reporter for CNN.com.

She has earned the highest awards in broadcasting – including the Peabody and the DuPont – as a producer for CNN’s chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour on the documentary God’s (Jewish) Warriors.

She produced several other award-winning documentaries, including: Soledad O’Brien’s Martin Luther King Jr: Words That Changed a Nation; Black in America: Eyewitness to Murder: The King Assassination; Suzanne Malveaux’s Barack Obama Revealed; Drew Griffin’s Sarah Palin Revealed; and Christiane Amanpour’s Generation Islam.

Prior to CNN, she was an award-winning investigative producer with WSOC-TV in Charlotte, N.C. She launched and managed the award-winning investigative unit at WTVQ-TV, Lexington, K.Y., after working as a show and segment producer. She started her career managing WXIN-TV’s weekend newsroom, where she also worked as an award-winning show and segment producer.

She has also worked as a freelance reporter and photographer for The Advocate, the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, Southern Voice, Sirius OutQ Radio News and others.

Prior to journalism, Christensen worked on nuclear non-proliferation issues in London for NATO’s Atlantic Council and worked at the Chicago Board of Elections. She is a co-author of chapters in two books: Women Public Speakers in the United States, 1925-1993 (Greenwood Press, 1993) and Women Confronting Retirement (Rutgers Press, 2003).

From 2013 - 2018, she has served as the national president of NLGJA, the Association of LGBTQ Journalists and is currently the VP of Digital and Print. Christensen holds a bachelor’s degree in TV/Radio and politics from Butler University and also attended the London School of Economics, where she studied foreign policy and economics. She is currently working on an MFA at Bennington College.