Announcement from National Editor Matea Gold, Deputy National Editor Philip Rucker and Health and Science Editor Stephen Smith:

We’re delighted to announce that David Ovalle, who had a distinguished two-decade run chronicling the characters and crimes of South Florida, is joining The Post’s Health and Science team to cover opioids and other aspects of America’s pressing substance-abuse crisis.

In this new position, David will cover the plight of people with substance-abuse disorders and hold to account the forces that have fueled their addiction. A pivotal part of this beat will be identifying emergent trends in the abuse of opioids and other substances, including recognizing deadly new drugs entering the marketplace and tracking how billions of dollars in legal settlement money is spent by governments. David will also collaborate on coverage of the Food and Drug Administration, including the agency’s continuing efforts to regulate tobacco and e-cigarettes.

David, who is known for his versatility, strong sourcing and compelling storytelling, has chronicled the fallout of addiction as a crime and justice reporter for the Miami Herald. He explored the plight of heroin addicts in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, Miami’s overdose epicenter, the resurgence of crystal meth in South Florida and the flow of synthetic drugs from China to Miami. At the height of the coronavirus pandemic, David wrote about people’s struggles to stay clean during lockdowns.

During his 20 years at the Herald, David reported on crime, courts and natural disasters – just about everything Florida can throw at a journalist. He covered two dozen hurricanes or tropical storms, riding out Hurricane Katrina in 2005 first in Miami, then in New Orleans. He traveled to Haiti to write about the aftermath of the devastating 2010 earthquake. David was also part of the Herald team that won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News for coverage of the Surfside condo collapse that killed 98 people.

A native of San Diego, David was raised by a single mother from Guatemala. He is a proud new parent with his partner, Mary, an art teacher and former teenage Miami Radio Disney personality. Outside of work, David is an avid runner, swimmer and reader, devouring military history books and Swedish murder mysteries. He graduated from the University of Southern California with degrees in print journalism and Spanish.

Please join us in welcoming David. His first day in the Washington newsroom is Feb. 6.