John McQuaid

John McQuaid is a journalist, author, and researcher based in Silver Spring, Maryland, who currently works as an independent investigative journalist and as a blog editor for the International Food Policy Research Institute. He spent 22 years at the New Orleans Times-Picayune, where he co-wrote the 2002 series "Washing Away" with Mark Schleifstein that anticipated the levee failures during Hurricane Katrina, and his reporting on the storm's aftermath was part of the package that won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. He is also known for co-authoring "Path of Destruction: The Devastation of New Orleans and the Coming Age of Superstorms" and writing "Tasty: The Art and Science of What We Eat," and he earned a PhD in Journalism Studies from the University of Maryland in 2026 with research focused on news media and AI risk.