Gina Kolata

Gina Bari Kolata (born February 25, 1948) is an American science journalist writing for The New York Times. Kolata was born Gina Bari in Baltimore, Maryland. Her mother, mathematician Ruth Aaronson Bari (1917–2005), was of Jewish descent. Her father, Arthur Bari (1913–2006), was a diamond setter of Italian heritage. He was a WWII Marine Corps veteran who served in the South Pacific. One of her sisters is Hood College art historian Dr. Martha Bari. Another was Earth First! environmental activist, feminist, and assassination attempt survivor Judi Bari (1949–1997).

Kolata studied molecular biology as a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She received a master's degree from the University of Maryland, College Park, in mathematics. She joined Science magazine, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, as a copy editor in 1973. She wrote for it as a journalist in the news section from 1974 until she moved to The New York Times in September 1987. 

She remains a health & science reporter at the newspaper. Kolata has taught writing as a visiting professor at Princeton University and lectures across the country. She is a "self-proclaimed exercise addict" (who thinks nothing of a 100-mile bike ride as a reward), according to a Times advertisement for itself.

Her husband, William G. Kolata, has taught mathematics and served as the technical director of the non-profit Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics in Philadelphia, a society for mathematicians. The couple has two children, Therese and Stefan.