Master’s Tea
About Roger Sergel
Roger Sergel is the Managing Editor of Medical Coverage for ABC News. In the role, he oversees ABC News’ Medical Unit and all medical reporting on “World News Tonight” “Good Morning America,” “Nightline,” and “20/20,” as well as other broadcasts and platforms. Sergel has more than thirty-six years’ experience in broadcast journalism and nearly thirty years’ experience in medical reporting.
In 1996, Sergel created the ABC News Medical Unit, which evaluates medical information for all broadcasts and also develops story ideas. As part of that unit, Sergel established a unique system of e-mailing doctors and public relations contacts throughout the medical field in order to obtain feedback about developing stories. The e-mail network today includes over 12,000 doctors in 200 specialty areas and over one thousand public relations professionals at the federal government health agencies, medical centers, hospitals, specialty organizations, pharmaceutical companies, and managed care companies. No other news organization covering medicine has a comparable network of contacts.
The Medical Unit also produces a daily memo, which evaluates studies and news releases. It is distributed throughout ABC News and to over fifty medical producers and reporters at ABC affiliated stations. The Unit is responsible for producing a daily “Medical Minute” on NewsOne, ABC’s affiliate news service seen by over one million people. Additionally, the Unit produces a health program three times a week on the video internet outlet of ABC News.
Sergel joined ABC News in 1984 with Dr. Timothy Johnson, now ABC News’ Medical Editor. As Dr. Johnson’s primary producer, Sergel has produced medical segments for all ABC News broadcasts. In 1982, prior to joining the network, he teamed with Dr. Johnson as executive producer of a syndicated health program.
Previously, Sergel was a general assignment reporter in Charlotte, North Carolina; a writer for WCPO-TV, the ABC affiliate, in Cincinnati; a show producer for WDIV-TV, the NBC affiliate, in Detroit; and a medical producer for five years with the NBC-owned station WMAQ-TV in Chicago.
Sergel has won the American Heart Association’s Blakeslee Award three times, and was part of the ABC News teams that won the duPont-Columbia Award on two occasions.
Sergel has three adult children and lives with his wife Martha in Wellesley, MA.