About us
Who are we?
We are two experienced investigative journalists that specialize in investigating health and medicine. Authors of the GIJN Guide “Investigating Health & Medicine”, we have trained many journalists and are regularly invited as guest speakers by universities and journalism organizations. Our investigations have been disseminated in a variety of mainstream media outlets (press, television, books) and published in peer-reviewed medical journals (The BMJ, BMJ-EBM, The Lancet, JoSPI). Our work has been the recipient of several awards. Catherine won the Suva Media Prize and the Media Prize of the Swiss Academies of Sciences (medicine). She also received the Nicolas Bouvier Prize (Special Jury Prize) with Sept.info. Serena won the jury prize at the Daniel Pearl Awards and was a finalist for the IRE (Investigative Reporters and Editors) Gold Medal. She also received from CICAP (Italian Committee for the Investigation of Claims of the Pseudosciences) the In difesa della Ragione award.
Alessandra was born in Sicily, studied political science in Catania and journalism in Milan (Italy). In the Nineties, she moved to Rome and reported for “I Siciliani”, “Avvenimenti” and “L’Unità” on civil rights, organized crime and corruption and later on biopolitics for the feminist magazine “noidonne”. 1998-2005 she was a communication specialist for equal opportunities’ political institutions. Since then, she’s back to journalism. The author of four books, she has since been writing features on politics and society for high circulation periodicals. She’s currently an editor with a Rai 1 popular TV program.
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Eva is based in Bologna (Italy) and has been working for over 20 years as radio and video journalist, and as producer and stringer. For 7 years she has covered the area of Southeast Asia and beyond for many international networks (among others: CBS RadioNetwork, Swiss public broadcaster, Rai Tv and Radio, SBS Australia, “La Repubblica”). She is also experienced as interpreter, organizer and is strong in problem solving and finding innovative models. A native Italian speaker, Eva Pedrelli is proficient in English and French, can handle a conversation in Spanish, Thai, German and is currently learning Indonesian.
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Aleksandra was born in St. Petersburg (Russia), where she studied at the State Academy of Arts and Design (specialization in glass). After moving to Berlin (Germany), she studied visual communication and design at the UdK. From 2000 to 2006 she was senior art director at the agency Scholz & Friends in Berlin. Today she works as a freelancer in the field of art direction, graphic design and concept. Her work has been awarded with several prizes. Since 2016, she is the president of The Glass Project, where she curates several art projects.
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Re-Check relies on the advice of an International Advisory Board. Its members are professional investigative journalists, academics, patient’s safety advocates.
These persons have no conflicts of interest in the field of health and medicine.
They do advise Re-Check pro bono.
Tatiana Bazzichelli is the founder, programme director and curator of
Disruption Network Lab; examining the intersection of politics, technology and society, Disruption Lab focuses on exposing the misconduct and wrongdoing of the powerful by prompting digital rights advocates, investigative journalists, whistleblowers, artists, hacktivists, and critical thinkers to enter into dialogue. A PhD in Information and Media Studies, Bazzichelli has taught classes and given lectures about hacktivism and digital culture in many institutions. She was born in Italy and is since 2003 based in Berlin (Germany).
Disruption Network Lab; examining the intersection of politics, technology and society, Disruption Lab focuses on exposing the misconduct and wrongdoing of the powerful by prompting digital rights advocates, investigative journalists, whistleblowers, artists, hacktivists, and critical thinkers to enter into dialogue. A PhD in Information and Media Studies, Bazzichelli has taught classes and given lectures about hacktivism and digital culture in many institutions. She was born in Italy and is since 2003 based in Berlin (Germany).
Jérôme Biollaz is Clinical pharmacology Professor Emeritus at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. He has worked tirelessly to promote rational and optimal therapeutic strategies in all areas of prescription and to make the medical profession, the public and the media aware of the influence of the pharmaceutical industry on research and prescribing. Biollaz was involved in pre- and post-graduate teaching at both the Faculty of Medicine and the School of Pharmacy. He was for years a member of the Swiss Federal Medicines Commission and of Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) Clinical Research Ethics Commission.
For over a decade, Maryanne Demasi worked for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and for Channel 7. A former medical scientist, she completed a PhD in Rheumatology and has co-authored several scientific studies. Maryanne was awarded the National Press Club of Australia prize in 2008, 2009 & 2011 for “Excellence in Health Journalism”. Today she works as a medical investigative journalist, with bylines, among other media, on the British Medical Journal. Her Substack hosts her original investigations in the field of health and medicine. Her work focuses on holding governments and public health authorities to account, investigating medical advice, and remaining independent of Big Pharma.
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Juan Gervas is a Spanish retired general practitioner and former visiting professor and honorary professor of Public Health in Madrid and Baltimore (Johns Hopkins). His academic work focuses on the excesses in medicine, with accent on prevention and on investigating public health systems. Since 1980 coordinator of Equipo CESCA, a scientific group for in-depth research and analysis in the field of primary care, Gervas is founder and board member of Nogracias, an organization that fights for transparency in the relationships between medical doctors and pharmaceutical companies.
Nils Hanson is an investigative editor best known for Bulletproofing Your Story, a system for quality control from the beginning to the end of a project. Also called Line by line editing, Hanson’s system includes a thorough fairness check and has been implemented by investigative newsrooms worldwide. For 15 years editor-in-chief of the Swedish public broadcaster (SVT’s) weekly “Uppdrag Granskning” (Mission Investigate), Hanson is today a lecturer in investigative journalism standards and ethics and continues to work as investigative editor for SVT.
Now a bush regenerator, Ray Moynihan was Assistant Professor at the Institute for Evidence-Based Healthcare at Bond University in Australia, with a global reputation for tackling the problems of too much medicine, and commercial distortion of science. A former investigative journalist, Ray’s written four books, including «Selling Sickness». A one-time Harkness fellow at Harvard University, he’s published ground-breaking research and delivered journalism-training in the US and Australia. He helped create the Preventing Overdiagnosis conferences and has led a BMJ initiative for more independence from industry in medical research, education and practice.
Geneviève Rail is Distinguished Professor Emerita at the Simone de Beauvoir Institute of Concordia University (Montreal, Canada). She has taught courses related to women’s bodies, physical activity and health at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Health Sciences from 1991 to 2009. Since then, she has been Principal and then Professor at Concordia University. Author of over 100 articles or book chapters on biopolitics, public health, women’s bodies and health practices, her research focuses on feminist critiques of health sciences, pharmaceutical industries, and health care systems.
Kim Witczak is an international drug safety advocate and speaker with over 25 years professional experience in advertising and marketing communications. She became involved in pharmaceutical drug safety issues after the sudden death of her husband due to undisclosed drug side effect. Witczak co-founded Woodymatters, a non-profit dedicated to advocating for a stronger FDA and drug safety system. She was appointed Consumer Representative on the FDA Psychopharmacologic Drug Advisory Committee in 2016 and is a board member with several non-profit organisations in the field of drugs’ safety.
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