Aaron Derfel

Aaron Derfel is the Montreal Gazette's investigative reporter specializing in medical journalism in a more than 35-year career that has taken him across North America. He is a three-time finalist of the National Newspaper Awards. In 2024, he won the Canadian Hillman Prize for an exposé on the shocking deaths of six patients in the packed emergency room of Lakeshore General Hospital, drawing attention to a national crisis. That same series won the Don McGillivray Award for best overall investigative report by the Canadian Association of Journalists.

Mr. Derfel's 2020 investigation into the horrific living conditions at the Résidence Herron nursing home earned the Grand Prize of the Prix Judith-Jasmin — Quebec's highest journalism accolade. The same reporting was nominated for a Michener Award for meritorious public service journalism — considered "Canada's own Pulitzer." Quebec Coroner Géhane Kamel publicly thanked Mr. Derfel during her inquest into the deaths at the Herron, suggesting his reporting probably saved lives. Mr. Derfel would receive his second Michener citation for the Lakeshore series.

In 2018, Mr. Derfel garnered a National Newspaper Award honorable mention in the investigations category for a four-part series exposing how budget cuts caused a spike in violence against staff and patients at the Montreal General Hospital. That series resulted in major security improvements. In 2009, Mr. Derfel was honored with the Media Award for Health Reporting by the Canadian Medical and Nurses' Associations for an in-depth feature on the over-prescription of anti-depressants. And in 2024, the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians bestowed its medical journalism award on Mr. Derfel for exposing the perilous state of ERs across Quebec.

Mr. Derfel reported extensively on the COVID-19 pandemic, writing a nightly Twitter thread that was followed by people from around the world, including by tens of thousands of Canadians — making a "Best of Montreal" list by Cult MTL as well as being nominated for a U.S. Data Hero Award. His pandemic reporting also won a 2020 Canadian Association of Journalists award. In addition, Mr. Derfel has served as a consultant to Telé-Québec for a documentary on growing privatization of medicine, and taken part in numerous panel discussions on public health policy. He is a regular guest in French and English on CJAD and other radio and TV stations in Quebec as well as across Canada and the U.S.

JOUR 302 — Research Methods for Journalism

JOUR 206 — Introduction to Reporting

JOUR 208 — Intermediate Reporting

JOUR 303 — Feature Writing

JOUR 215 — Contemporary News Media

JOUR 210 — The Media in Quebec

JOUR 340 — Communicating Science with Society

JOUR 502 — Introduction to the Print Process

JOUR 501 and 604 — Research Methods for Journalism (diploma and Master's students)

The Bigger Picture: Elements of Feature Writing
(Emond Montgomery Press, 2008)

Contributed a 2006 feature story to the book.

(Éditeur: Somme toute, 2022)

Contributed to one of the essays in the book.