Lynn Sherr

Lynn Sherr has been an ABC News' 20/20 correspondent for 20 years, covering a wide range of stories specializing in women's issues and social changes, as well as investigative reports. Among her award-winning reports on 20/20: the astonishing story of a homeless girl in New York who earned a scholarship to Harvard; a pioneering report on a treatment for anorexia; a series on the lengths women go to when altering their bodies in the name of beauty; and a look at the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, where the goal is Gross National Happiness.

In 2000, Sherr traveled to India to report on midnight in Bombay for the ABCNEWS Millennium Special, which received numerous awards, the increase in HIV among older women and a report on Audrey Santos, a young girl in Massachusetts, whose life in a coma has inspired a series of unexplained religious phenomena. In an unusually personal report, 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 that has had particular success in treating the condition.

Prior to her assignment at 20/20, Sherr was a national correspondent for ABC News and a general assignment correspondent. She has covered a variety of stories from national politics to NASA Space Shuttle missions, including the explosion of the Challenger and in 1986, she was chosen as one of 40 semifinalists for the Journalist in Space Project. More recently, she covered the theft of art during the Iraq War, military strategy during the Iraq War, and the dangers of the drug Oxycontin in America.

Sherr has received two American Women in Radio and Television Commendation Awards - one for her report on the alternative treatment for anorexia and bulimia, and another for the special she hosted, Susan B. Anthony Slept Here. Sherr received the 1994 George Foster Peabody Award and the Santa Clara County Psychological Association Award for her anorexia report, as well as an award from the British Medical Association and the Cine Golden Eagle Award, and the 1995 National Headliner Award for her report on a highly experimental open-womb surgery. She also was honored with a 1994 Front Page Award for her piece on the dangers of tattooed cosmetics, and a 1995 Silver Screen Award for her segment about a young man who revealed to his family that he had AIDS.

She is the author of America the Beautiful: The Stirring True Story Behind Our Nation's Favorite Song, Failure Is Impossible: Susan B. Anthony in Her Own Words, co-author of Susan B. Anthony Slept Here: A Guide to American Women's Landmarks, and 10 editions of The Women's Calendar. Her 1997 book, Tall Blondes, offered a perceptive and highly praised look at one of wildlife's most endearing but little-understood animals — giraffes. This report was turned into a one hour special for the PBS series Nature. In 2006, Sherr published the critically acclaimed Outside the Box: A Memoir, which has been called “a superb history of television news, the modern women’s movement, and the US space program … funny, smart, sad, telling.” The book also reflects on her shattering loss when her husband died of lymphoma, and her own bout with colon cancer, recounted for the first time, with the same wit and wisdom that have distinguished her entire career. Her latest book is Peter Jennings: A Reporter’s Life, an oral biography of the late ABC News anchor, of which she is co-editor. Sherr is also the author of articles in publications such as The New York Times, The New York Times Book Review, O Magazine, Town & Country, Saturday Review, Ms., Family Circle, and Mademoiselle.

In addition to her books and her work at ABC News, Sherr frequently guest-hosts various radio call-in shows, and in 2007 anchored the acclaimed 90-minute PBS special, The Best of Nature – 25 Years. She also serves as a widely respected moderator of panels on topics from environmentalism to politics. Her speaking and moderating skills are noted for warmth, wit and passion.