McNeil started at
The New York Times in 1976 as a
copy boy. He left in 1979 to teach
journalism at
Columbia University while studying history. In 1984, his play "Chip Shot" was produced
off-off-Broadway by the Pan Asian Repertory Theater. From 1995 to 2002, he was a foreign correspondent based in
South Africa and
France. It was during this time that McNeil began covering HIV/AIDS and took an interest in
vaccine-preventable diseases. In 2002, McNeil joined the science staff of
The New York Times and was assigned to cover
global health. McNeil's later work on a series of stories about diseases on the brink of
eradication was awarded the top prize by the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Prize in Journalism in 2006. In 2013, he was featured in an acclaimed
documentary about AIDS drugs,
Fire in the Blood. In late 2015, McNeil began covering
the outbreak of the
Zika virus for
The New York Times. During the
COVID-19 pandemic, he became known for his early and persistent warnings about the severity of the situation. McNeil appeared on
The Daily to discuss COVID-19 on February 27, 2020, marking him as one of the first to bring widespread attention to the
COVID-19 virus in the United States.
Contract negotiations with The New York Times McNeil was part of a brief
walkout during contract negotiations between newsroom members of the
Newspaper Guild of New York and the management of
The New York Times. During negotiations on October 12, 2012, McNeil reported that 375 union members had walked out of the New York City offices and another 23 had walked out of the Washington D.C. newsroom. At the time, union members had been without a contract for 18 months and talks over pension payments were at a standstill. McNeil was joined by many other prominent reporters and editors in directing harsh criticism at the paper.
Dismissal from The New York Times In 2019 McNeil accompanied a group of high school students on a
New York Times sponsored trip to
Peru. The purpose of the trip was for the students to learn about community-based healthcare in Peru. On January 28, 2021,
The Daily Beast reported that multiple participants accused McNeil of repeatedly making racist and sexist remarks, including having used the word "
nigger" in the context of discussing racist language, as well as "[using] stereotypes about Black teenagers". McNeil initially released a very short statement to
The Washington Post, saying "Don't believe everything you read", which led to 150
Times employees signing an internal letter on February 3, demanding an apology from McNeil.
The New York Times said they had "disciplined Donald for statements and language that had been inappropriate and inconsistent with our values" after initial complaints in 2019, Describing his interactions with the high school students on the trip to Peru, McNeil wrote, "I thought I was generally arguing in favor of open-mindedness and tolerance — but it clearly didn't come across that way. And my bristliness makes me an imperfect pedagogue for sensitive teenagers."
Later career In 2025, McNeil began writing occasional op-ed pieces for
The Washington Post about Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and vaccine policy under the Trump administration. == Personal life ==