I come from a family of science geeks so it probably was fated that I’d write about science, medicine and health. It’s been a great ride and I never fail to be intellectually challenged, educated and astonished. I’ve gotten the chance to travel through Australia’s tropical rain forests to see the effects of global warming first hand, interview monkey behavioralists while surrounded by lemurs at a sanctuary in Sarasota, report on advances in treatments for the ills that plague most Americans and profile the heroic scientists behind these breakthroughs. Along the way I’ve exposed malfeasance by drug makers and the dangers of prescription pills, looked at the hazards in our air traffic control system, and examined the pitfalls of hydraulic fracturing—fracking—to obtain natural gas.

Over the years, I’ve worked at Omni, a cutting edge science magazine where I got my start; than as a staff writer for the Los Angeles Times health section where I wrote about cancer vaccines, AIDS and the use of palliative care in the last stages of life, and uncovered the potential for osteoporosis drugs to cause jaw bone deterioration and the link between Vicodin abuse and hearing loss, among numerous other stories.  As a contributing editor for Ladies’ Home Journal, I’ve done stories about dangers in the ER, the fatal flaws in our food safety system, the overmedication of children and the high cost of cancer care. Currently, I’m a contributing editor for Discover where I’ve reported on gender differences in the brain, psychedelic medicine, evolutionary hot spots around the globe, paleontology discoveries at construction sites, and had the opportunity to do lengthy interviews with Elizabeth Blackburn–the eighth woman in history to win a Nobel Prize in science–and Dr. Philip Landrigan, a pioneer in environmental health.

I’ve also taught in The Writer’s Program at UCLA Extension for more than two decades and was named “Teacher of the Year” in 1999. For more than five years, I wrote a column on new medical advances that was syndicated nationally by the Los Angeles Times, and authored a book, Prescription for Profits, which illuminated how the corporate takeover of academic research was a threat to public health. Currently, I’m working on another book—Deadly Inferno: Why We’ll Live Sicker and Die Quicker on a Hotter Planet and How We Can Save Ourselves—that looks at the effects global warming will have on our health. My articles have been in dozens of other publications, like the Los Angeles Times Magazine, Financial Times, Mother Jones, Smart Money, Spin, Popular Science, American Archaeology, Los Angeles, Glamour, More, Utne Reader, AARP, Self and Reader’s Digest.

All in all, not a bad way to spend the past twenty or so years. When I’m not making my brain work hard unpacking the latest scientific discoveries and trends, I like to see movies, read detective novels, hike, roller blade, play with our menagerie of critters and travel to exotic places with my family.