Sharyn Alfonsi first appeared on 60 Minutes, the CBS News flagship broadcast, in 2015. She has been honored with numerous accolades over her career, including an Emmy for Outstanding Recorded News Program with 60 Minutes, a Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Silver Baton, a Society of Professional Journalists' Sigma Delta Chi Award for Public Service in Television Journalism and a Gracie Award for National On-Air Talent in News or News Magazine.
Alfonsi's award-winning reporting from the U.S.-Mexico border on the migrant crisis earned her the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Silver Baton in 2020. Alfonsi looked at the Trump administration's policy of separating families at the Mexican border from the poignant lens of immigrants going through it. After that story, Alfonsi had the first interview with the Salvadoran woman whose husband and daughter drowned trying to cross the Rio Grande, their image in death captivating the world. She reported on why a private section of the border wall was allegedly failing. More recently, she interviewed Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on the record number of migrants trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border and reported from El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico where she witnessed the rising tensions days before a fire killed at least 38 people in a migrant detention center.
Following the U.S. withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, Alfonsi traveled to Kabul to cover the country's humanitarian crisis and led a rare conversation with the health minister of the Taliban as Afghans struggled with food insecurity, lack of medical supplies and other shortages. After Russia invaded Ukraine, Alfonsi interviewed Sanna Marin, prime minister of Finland, as Finland and Russia share a long border and a complicated history. She reported on the West's strategy of aiding Ukraine, as Russia continued its assault, by issuing economic sanctions against the Kremlin. Alfonsi visited Cyprus to report on the international game of Hide and Seek and how Russian oligarchs used the island to hide their wealth.
Alfonsi has reported on the rising rates of suicide and depression and how it's been accelerated by the pandemic among U.S. adolescents. She put a spotlight on over 2,000 families suing social media companies over kids' mental health. After the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade, Alfonsi looked at the U.S.'s maternal health crisis and visited the state of Louisiana where health care deserts, racial discrimination and "fear" put women and babies at risk. She reported from the "the Overdose Capital of America" and shared a story on how cops were bringing an addiction counselor on drug raids to fight the opioid crisis.
She led the first and only television interview with a Mormon whistleblower who left Wall St. to work for charity and blew the whistle on what he said is his church's "clandestine hedge fund," generated a lot of attention. She reported on a continuing investigation of harassment and stalking by eBay employees who targeted a couple behind an online newsletter.
Alfonsi has conducted a range of profiles for 60 Minutes, including interviews with Beatles' musician and composer Sir Paul McCartney, comedian Adam Sandler in a rare appearance, actor Nicolas Cage at his Las Vegas home, congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand as the New York senator announced her bid for president, U.S. Olympic gymnastics phenom Simone Biles, soccer superstar Christian Pulisic at the start of his career, American billionaire and ACF Fiorentina owner Rocco Commisso, "Barefoot Contessa," Ina Garten.
Alfonsi led multiple reports during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, including a 2020 investigation into flawed COVID-19 antibody tests that were being shipped without FDA review. Her reporting on the handling of one of the earliest recorded coronavirus super-spreader events, a cruise aboard the Costa Luminosa, was one of 60 Minutes' most revealing pandemic segments. She reported on how school districts across the country saw an unprecedented drop in enrollment during the pandemic and how social workers were being tasked with tracking down students marked by schools as missing. Alfonsi put a spotlight on how COVID-19 was impacting rural health care in the state of Texas and interviewed a doctor and nurse practitioner who were dipping into their own pockets to provide such care.
Alfonsi's investigation into the jailhouse death of Jeffrey Epstein revealed new evidence in the high-profile case. Her reporting on the students who survived the Parkland, Florida, school shooting won two Emmys.
Reports include Alfonsi's look at the Oath Keepers after January 6 and how the militia group mobilized in plain sight for the assault on the Capitol. She reported on combat veterans coming home with CTE, resembling the same injuries seen in football players. She shared a story on how chess was instilling new dreams in kids from a rural Mississippi county. Alfonsi went inside the high-end fashion label Gucci with creative director Alessandro Michele. She traveled to Flint, Michigan to report that early findings were looking grim on the health of children in the wake of the water crisis six years prior. Her 2017 investigation of the misuse of jailhouse informants in Orange County, California, drew national attention to a criminal justice system scandal. In her first 60 Minutes report, she revealed that the Federal Emergency Management Agency was aware its insurance companies had committed fraud against Hurricane Sandy victims.
Previously, Alfonsi was a correspondent for 60 Minutes Sports where she reported on overuse injuries harming teens who play only one sport year-round and sudden deaths among young athletes with undetected heart problems, profiled golfer Bubba Watson and led a poignant portrait of Harry Parker, who coached the Harvard varsity crew team to a final victory before dying as one of the most successful collegiate coaches in history.
Alfonsi joined 60 Minutes from ABC News as a New York-based reporter who appeared regularly on "Good Morning America," "World News Tonight" and "Nightline." She was the co-anchor of the ABC franchise "Made in America" where she revealed that the uniforms to be worn by U.S. Olympic athletes were made in China. Her investigation for "Nightline" showed the often cruel world of the puppy mill industry, exposing factory-like breeding facilities in the Amish country of Pennsylvania.
Before ABC, Alfonsi was a CBS News correspondent in New York, having started in July 2004, and was the lead correspondent on a number of major domestic and international stories. Alfonsi covered the school shootings at Virginia Tech for all CBS News broadcasts. In 2006, she reported from the Israel-Lebanon border on the war with Hezbollah and later, the violence in Gaza. In 2005, Alfonsi covered the war in Iraq. Domestically, Alfonsi covered Hurricane Katrina and stayed in New Orleans for more than a month reporting on the recovery and rebuilding efforts. She additionally reported on Hurricane Rita and the Sago Mine Disaster in West Virginia. She served as a fill-in anchor for the "CBS Evening News" weekend edition and regularly contributed to "CBS Sunday Morning." Previously, she was a correspondent for CBS News' "Up To The Minute" and CBS Newspath. Among the stories she covered with Newspath were the Martha Stewart trial and the return of U.S. soldiers from Iraq.
Leading up to her move to CBS News, Alfonsi was an award-winning reporter and an anchor for WBZ-TV, the CBS-owned station in Boston, where she notably covered the ongoing Catholic Church scandal, the Michael Skakel trial and the Rhode Island nightclub fires.
She was previously a reporter for KIRO-TV, the CBS affiliate in Seattle, Washington, where she covered the World Trade Organization riots. Alfonsi was also a general assignment reporter for WVEC-TV Norfolk, Virginia, where she traveled extensively with the military. She began her career in broadcast journalism at KHBS-TV in Ft. Smith, Arkansas, where she served as a news reporter, weekend weather anchor, photographer and editor.
Alfonsi grew up near Washington, D.C. She graduated from the University of Mississippi, Oxford, with a Bachelor of Science degree in political science and journalism.
