ORLANDO, Fla., Nov. 17, 2009 – Wall Street Journal medical reporter Thomas M. Burton is the winner of the 2009 American Heart Association Howard L. Lewis Achievement Award for excellence in medical and science journalism. The award recognizes a career of distinction in reporting about heart disease and stroke.

Burton was honored “for his engaging and creative reporting on the practice of medicine and the pharmaceutical and medical-device industries,” the award citation noted. “In particular, his unique mix of investigative and story-telling skills, along with a true passion for his work, result in enterprising reporting that has made a real difference in the ongoing fight against heart disease and stroke.”

Along with a $2,000 honorarium, the citation was presented at a media reception in Orlando during the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2009. The association’s chief executive officer, Nancy Brown, and board chairman, Neil Meltzer, made the presentation.

The award—judged by a panel of journalists who are all past recipients—is named for the late Howard L. Lewis, longtime director of the science media relations office at the American Heart Association’s national headquarters in Dallas.

Burton has been a reporter for the Wall Street Journal since 1990, covering medicine as well as the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. In 2004, he and Wall Street Journal colleague Kevin Helliker won the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting for a series of groundbreaking stories about aortic aneurysms and problems in diagnosing them. Among other awards, Burton also shared a 1996 Gerald Loeb Award for business and financial reporting, for work examining allegations of price-fixing at Archer Daniels Midland Co.

Burton has also been a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Philadelphia Bulletin and Baltimore Sun. He holds a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., and a bachelor’s degree in history from Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H.

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 NR09 – 1153 (SS09/LewisAward)