David Willman

Washington, D.C.

Investigative reporter

Education: San Jose State University, BA in Journalism

David Willman is a reporter on the long-term investigations unit of The Washington Post. Before joining The Post in mid-January 2020, Willman worked for the Los Angeles Times, where he won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting for articles that prompted the market withdrawal of Rezulin, a widely sold diabetes drug. His subsequent reports, documenting widespread, including secret, pharmaceutical industry payments to federal researchers, triggered a ban of such compensation at the U.S. National Institutes of Health. In 2008, Willman was first to report that the government’s lea
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Latest from David Willman

China’s struggles with lab safety carry danger of another pandemic

Investigations show China is vulnerable to serious lab accidents, exposing problems that allowed deadly pathogens to escape in the past, and could well do so again.

April 12, 2023

The virus hunters

A journey into the wild world of high-risk virus hunting, a coming reckoning, and The Post’s year-long investigation into the U.S. role in pushing such research to the edge.

April 10, 2023

Research with exotic viruses risks a deadly outbreak, scientists warn

The covid-19 epidemic has challenged conventional thinking about biosafety, leading a growing number of scientists to reconsider the danger of prospecting for unknown viruses and other research with pathogens.

April 10, 2023

Massacre suspect said he modified Bushmaster rifle to hold more ammunition

May 15, 2022

A science in the shadows

Key policy revisions have loosened oversight of NIH-funded "gain of function" research despite some experts' fears it could inadvertently cause a pandemic.

August 26, 2021

Renewed focus on Wuhan lab scrambles the politics of the pandemic

As scientists reconsider the possibility that the coronavirus escaped from a Chinese lab, Democrats are taking another look and Republicans are claiming vindication, though the theory is far from conclusive.

May 28, 2021

Biden asks intelligence community to redouble efforts to determine definitive origin of the coronavirus

The president also pressed China to cooperate amid questions of whether the virus originated in a lab in Wuhan.

May 26, 2021

400,000 people are dead. Can Biden change course?

How President Biden plans to combat the pandemic in his first 100 days. Where the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention went wrong with testing, and what it cost us. And what the U.K. coronavirus variant means for you.

January 22, 2021

‘A place to fund hope’: How Proud Boys and other fringe groups found refuge on a Christian fundraising website

GiveSendGo.com pages raised more than $247,000 for people who claimed expenses related to the Jan. 6 rally in D.C. and other “Stop the Steal” events.

January 18, 2021

The Capitol mob: A raging collection of grievances and disillusionment

Social media sleuths, news accounts and court cases are revealing the identities of those who swarmed the U.S. Capitol. Here are some of their stories.

January 10, 2021