Lynn Sherr TOPICS: Journalism Current Events Media / Broadcast / Print Women's Issues FEE CATEGORY:* 25.0k to 30.0k TRAVELS FROM: New York Profile Books & Videos Request This Speaker

Lynn Sherr: Profile

Lynn Sherr joined 20/20 as a correspondent in May 1986. She has covered a wide range of stories, specializing in women’s issues and social changes, as well as investigative reports. Among her most recent reports: an investigation into accusations of rape at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs; a fascinating report on the status of Keiko, the killer whale, in his surprising new home in Norway; an update on the whereabouts of Marlo Thomas, TV’s That Girl; and an eye-opening story of individuals with ambiguous genitalia who describe themselves as “intersexuals.” Ms. Sherr also traveled to Cairo, Egypt, for her groundbreaking report on a controversial and secret surgical procedure that turns sexually experienced women into virgins again.

During the Iraq war, Ms. Sherr contributed a number of special reports, including the theft of Iraqi art and antiquities, analysis of the war’s military strategy, the background to Saddam Hussein’s use of doubles, the status of humanitarian aid, and the prisoners of war.

Previously she reported on the abuse of Oxycontin, the drug of choice for many in Middle America; prepared a heartwarming story about a woman in Oregon who found her adoptive mother; Ms. Sherr also profiled a transgendered schoolteacher whose case became a cause celebre in California; and a Florida youngster who nearly died when he copied a daredevil television show. She also traveled to Namibia to report on an American woman who is single-handedly helping save cheetahs from extinction. Among Ms. Sherr’s reports after the 9/11 attacks was an eye-opening investigation into the laxity of the foreign student visa program.

During the 1999-2000 season, Ms. Sherr’s contributions to 20/20 included an award-winning report on the astonishing story of a homeless girl in New York who earned a scholarship to Harvard. She also traveled to Peru for an eye-opening story -- a cautionary tale -- about two young American women who spent time in prison there for smuggling drugs. Ms. Sherr investigated fraud in HMOs and terrorists stalking computer users in cyberspace. She profiled James Hewitt, the man who had an affair with Princess Diana and wrote about it. And she told the fascinating story of the discovery of the extraordinary, 67-million-year-old dinosaur known as Tyrannosaurus Sue, as well as the real Sue who found her.

In 2000 as well, Lynn Sherr traveled to India to report on midnight in Bombay for the ABC News Millennium Special, which has received numerous awards, including a George Foster Peabody Award for 1999. She later returned to India to provide a series of background reports for World News Tonight during the visit of President Clinton.

Her past reports on 20/20 include the growth of HIV in older women, and a full one-hour report on Audrey Santos, a young girl in Worcester, Massachusetts, whose life in a coma has inspired a series of unexplained religious phenomena. In an unusually personal report, Ms. Sherr interviewed baseball players Darryl Strawberry and Eric Davis about their battles with colon cancer, and revealed that she too was a recent survivor of the disease.

She has also done a ground-breaking one-hour story on anorexia and a clinic in Canada which has had particular success in treating the condition.

Prior to her assignment at 20/20, Ms. Sherr was a national correspondent for ABC News since 1982 and a general assignment correspondent since 1977. She has continually covered a variety of stories ranging from national politics to NASA Space Shuttle missions.

Ms. Sherr travels from New York.

Her books include Failure is Impossible and Susan B. Anthony Slept Here.

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