Melody Petersen, business reporter, came to The New York Times in 1996, initially covering government and politics in Trenton, N.J., before becoming a business reporter for the paper. She has covered pharmaceutical companies since the summer of 2000.

Before joining The Times, she was a reporter for The San Jose Mercury News, where she was part of a team that won a Gerald Loeb Award for a series on the California power industry.

Ms. Petersen has also worked at The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Until 1991, she was a certified public accountant, working at the firm of KPMG Peat Marwick.

She was born in Le Mars, Iowa, on January 5, 1964. She received a bachelor of business administration degree in accounting from the University of Iowa in 1986 and a master of arts degree in journalism from the University of Maryland at College Park in 1992.