Marissa Evans is the investigations editor with the Investigative Project on Race and Equity, a non-profit newsroom focused on uncovering racial inequities. She specializes in health equity, racial disparities, social justice issues and culture reporting. Previously a health reporter at the Los Angeles Times, she covered the intersection of race, healthcare, and entertainment. Her extensive reporting on racial health inequities in America has shaped conversations about systemic reforms and policy change. She has landed interviews with Oprah Winfrey, Usher, Blac Chyna, Kerry Washington, and other culture movers and shakers in arts and entertainment.

She was previously the social issues reporter for the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, where she focused on housing, health, and affordability issues throughout Minnesota. Her investigative work exposed how the state allowed private hospitals to seize tax refunds from individuals with unpaid medical bills, leading to legislative action in 2021 aimed at ending the policy. As a reporter for the Texas Tribune, Marissa won a 2018 Online News Association award for explanatory reporting for her in-depth coverage of Texas' maternal mortality crisis. Her essay about her father, COVID-19 and grief led to her winning an LA Press Club award in 2023. She has also earned grant funding from the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting and the Carter Center's Mental Health Reporting Program.

She also teaches an online trauma-informed reporting class with the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. In addition, Marissa is a sought after trainer who has led workshops for journalists during conferences and webinars on reporting on healthcare, reporting on race, trauma-informed reporting, how to generate and identify story ideas, writing memos that get their ideas approved by editors, advocating for their ideas, writing public records requests, managing their beats, career development and more. She has led in-person and virtual trainings and panels with the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting, Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), the USC Center for Health Journalism, the Carter Center Fellowship for Mental Health Journalism, Report for America and other organizations.

Her reporting has appeared in Stat News, the New York Times, the Guardian, the Emancipator, Business Insider, O the Oprah Magazine, the Atlantic, Civil Eats, CQ Roll Call, Cosmo for Latinas, Kaiser Health News, the Seattle Times, the Washington Post, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service. I’m an alumna of Marquette University.