Liz Cookman

Liz Cookman is The Independent's global health correspondent based in Istanbul, Turkey. She previously lived in Ukraine, covering Russia's full-scale invasion, and started her career in the Middle East. In 2026, she was nominated for both Foreign Reporter and Feature Writer of the Year at the Press Awards for work in Ukraine, Syria and Somalia. She received a British Journalism Award for Features in 2025 and Amnesty's Gaby Rado Award for New Journalist in 2023.