The Power
Of
Storytelling
“Like thread through fabric, stories run through generations, weaving wisdom, lessons, and knowledge.”
Journalist
René Marsh is an Emmy-nominated CNN correspondent with more than two decades of experience covering pivotal national events and global environmental issues. She joined CNN’s Washington, D.C., bureau in 2012.
René currently covers the Trump administration’s dramatic reshaping of the federal government. In the early months of the new administration, René broke a series of deeply reported exclusives on DOGE and the sweeping restructuring of federal agencies. Her reporting details how swiftly DOGE moved to remake institutions, documenting mass firings of thousands of federal employees.
During her time at CNN René has also covered environmental issues. She covered the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, providing in-depth coverage of former President Barack Obama’s participation, from his keynote address to his private engagements. She later traveled to Greenland to document how the planet’s rapidly melting ice sheets threaten coastal communities half a world away in the United States, and to Nevada’s northern desert to report on America’s push toward green energy, the race to mine lithium and the controversies it has ignited.
To view all of René’s stories for CNN, Click Here
Before joining CNN, René reported for television news stations in Miami, Albany, and Shreveport. A native New Yorker who grew up in Queens, she is the daughter of Jamaican immigrants. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Binghamton University and a master’s in broadcast journalism from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications. René resides in the Washington, D.C., metro area with her husband and daughter.
Author
René became determined to use her gift of writing as a vehicle to raise awareness and funding for pediatric cancer research after her late son, Blake, was diagnosed with brain cancer at 9 months old. René penned “The Miracle Workers: Boy vs. Beast” during the months spent in the hospital for Blake’s cancer treatments. The net profits from “The Miracle Workers: Boy vs. Beast” will go directly to the Blake Vince Payne Star Fund, which was established by the nonprofit Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation in Blake’s honor.
Pediatric cancer is the number one cause of death by disease among children in the United States, with brain cancer the deadliest form. Yet no drug has ever been developed and approved specifically for children with brain tumors. Despite a multibillion-dollar budget, the National Cancer Institute earmarked only 5%, just a fraction, for pediatric cancer research in fiscal year 2018.
The Blake Vince Payne Star Fund is helping change that. It serves as a financial catalyst for a first-of-its-kind global initiative, uniting world-renowned clinicians and scientists to study pineoblastoma in infants and develop desperately needed new therapies. Pineoblastoma, the rare, malignant brain tumor that took Blake’s life, remains virtually unstudied, with no conclusive research to guide treatment. In partnership with The Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation, René and her husband identified leading experts to co-lead this pioneering effort: pediatric neuro-oncologist and scientist Dr. Annie Huang of The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, and pediatric brain cancer scientist Dr. Paul Northcott of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis.
The Blake Vince Payne Star fund serves as a financial catalyst for an unprecedented initiative that brings together renowned clinicians and scientists from around the world to specifically study pineoblastoma in infants and develop new therapies. Pineoblastoma is the type of tumor Blake was diagnosed with. It is a rare malignant brain tumor. No substantial or conclusive research currently exists for this type of brain cancer in infants. PBTF in partnership with René and her husband identified pediatric neuro-oncologist and scientist Annie Huang from The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto and pediatric brain cancer scientist Paul Northcott from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis to co-lead this pioneering global initiative.
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In her effort to raise awareness and push lawmakers to develop more strategies to fuel more funding for pediatric cancers and more development of effective drugs for children with cancer René has also created a citizens petition urging the federal government to make childhood cancer a national priority by investing more in pediatric cancer research and pushing for the development of more effective drugs specifically for childhood cancer. sign here and use the hashtag #cancelchildhoodcancer