Natalie Obiko Pearson

Natalie Obiko Pearson is an investigative journalist and senior investigative reporter for Asia at Bloomberg News, based in Tokyo. She won the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for Illustrated Reporting and Commentary with visual artist Anand RK and journalist Suparna Sharma for trAPPed, an illustrated investigation of digital-arrest scams in India.

Pearson has twice received a Gerald Loeb Award, winning for explanatory journalism in 2017 as part of the team behind the Bloomberg series Superbug Spreaders and for feature writing in 2025 for The Egg. She was also part of the Bloomberg staff named a finalist for the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting for an examination of the United States government's role in the international spread of firearms.

Early life and education Pearson was raised in Japan and is a member of Princeton University's class of 1999.

Career Early reporting Pearson's early reporting included work from Japan for The Associated Press. Her bylined articles published by The Japan Times during the early 2000s covered subjects including former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori, internet-linked suicide pacts, migration, discrimination against former patients with Hansen's disease, public health and Japanese society.

During a career spanning more than two decades, Pearson has reported in three languages from approximately 20 countries. Her assignments have included the emergence of Narendra Modi as a national political figure in India, the socialist government of Hugo Chávez in Venezuela and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries during a period of historically high oil prices. She subsequently became Bloomberg's senior investigative reporter for Asia and was based in Tokyo by 2026.

Major investigations Antimicrobial resistance While based in India, Pearson initiated reporting on the use of antibiotics in agriculture and its contribution to antimicrobial resistance.

The project, entered for the Gerald Loeb Awards as Superbug Spreaders, received the 2017 award for explanatory reporting.

Race, technology and philanthropy Pearson received the 2021 Christopher J. Welles Memorial Prize for a body of business reporting on race, technology and philanthropy.

The Egg received the 2025 Gerald Loeb Award for feature writing. Their reporting centred on a neurologist who was kept under virtual surveillance and coercive control through her telephone for eight days.

Awards and recognition Pearson's selected awards and distinctions include:

2009: Knight-Bagehot Fellowship in Economics and Business Journalism, Columbia University 2017: Gerald Loeb Award for explanatory reporting, for Superbug Spreaders 2017: Society of Publishers in Asia Award for Excellence in investigative reporting, for Superbug Profiteers 2021: Christopher J. Welles Memorial Prize 2024: Pulitzer Prize finalist in investigative reporting, as part of the Bloomberg staff responsible for America, Global Gun Pusher 2025: Gerald Loeb Award for feature writing, for The Egg 2026: Kim Wall Award, Overseas Press Club of America, with Suparna Sharma and Anand RK, for India's Digital Dream, Hacked 2026: First place, National Headliner Award for digital presentation of a single feature topic, for India's Digital Dream, Hacked 2026: Pulitzer Prize for Illustrated Reporting and Commentary, with Suparna Sharma and Anand RK, for trAPPed