Biography of Lynn Sherr

Lynn Sherr joined ABC News' 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. Her reports on 20/20 include the increase in HIV among 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, 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 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. She anchored ABC News' special coverage of the Shuttle launches, landings and space walks, including the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger. She covered the investigation into the cause of the explosion and obtained the only interview with astronaut Sally Ride, a member of the Rogers Commission. In 1988, Sherr anchored and reported a one-hour ABC News Closeup, "Beyond the Shuttle," examining the status of America's space program and its ability to conduct the next generation of space missions. In May of 1986, she was chosen as one of 40 semifinalists for the Journalist in Space Project.

Sherr has received two American Women in Radio and Television Commendation Awards: One for her report on an alternative treatment for anorexia and bulimia, and another for the ABC primetime special she hosted, "Susan B. Anthony Slept Here," which also won an AWRT best-in-show award. 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 Failure Is Impossible: Susan B. Anthony in Her Own Words and co-author of Susan B. Anthony Slept Here: A Guide to American Women's Landmarks, and 10 editions of "The Women's Calendar." Her most recent book, Tall Blondes, offered a perceptive and highly praised look at one of wildlife's most endearing but little-understood animals ? giraffes. Sherr is also the author of articles in publications such as The New York Times, The New York Times Book Review, Saturday Review, Ms., Family Circle and Mademoiselle.

Sherr graduated from Wellesley College, where she now serves as a trustee, with a B.A. degree.