Harvard Press reporter Joan Eliyesil cuts a slice of cake at her farewell party Dec. 18. (Photo by Nick Browse)
Joan Eliyesil has stepped back from the full-time reporting and part-time news editing roles she has filled at the Harvard Press since 2013. Her work included wide-ranging coverage of town government, including PFAS contamination in town and private wells and investigative reporting in 2024 and 2025 on Harvard’s outsized opioid settlement, for which she won a prize from the New England Newspaper and Press association in the investigative/enterprise category. Her column, “At a Farmstand Near You,” was a mainstay of the paper from July to October, while “By the Numbers: COVID-19 Update,” tracked local and statewide COVID cases throughout the pandemic.