“Put it before them briefly so they will read it, clearly so they will appreciate it, picturesquely so they will remember it and, above all, accurately so they will be guided by its light.” –Joseph Pulitzer
Words to aspire to–and, as long as I can remember, I’ve been putting my thoughts into words and words onto paper, or rather, more recently, onto the interwebs. Being born and raised in Washington, D.C. gave me a certain admiration for journalists and journalism, and steered me onto the path of my wordsmithing career.
Over the years, clients have included The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, Science, Wired, Reuters, Washingtonian magazine, and a slew of trade newspapers, magazines, websites, and scientific journals. Currently, I’m a contributing writer for Smithsonian.com and Medscape Medical News, writing about art, culture, science, medicine, health policy, politics and the law.
My skills include writing for daily deadlines, features, photography, videography, podcasting, and scriptwriting.
I rejoined the freelance world in January 2014 after eight years at a medical publisher, which was preceded by a dozen years of freelancing.
Health care has been a particular focus during my almost three decades in Washington –from the Reagan Administration to the Obama Administration — covering the beginnings of the AIDS crisis to the ascendance of the Affordable Care Act. I’ve stalked the halls of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Institutes of Health, and burrowed my way into the U.S. Capitol and House and Senate hearing rooms. My coverage also extends to the whole D.C. lobbying trade — from medical professional societies and medical device and pharmaceutical makers, to consumer advocates, to hospital and insurance associations.
But that’s not all! Over the years, I’ve also sought out adventure wherever I could find it (or convince editors to send me), staking out a frozen hillside in the Sierra Nevadas to cover a snowshoe race, scrambling behind teams of adventure racers through the rainforest in Borneo and the mountains of Patagonia, interviewing television impressario Mark Burnett while hunkered down inside a helicopter, zydeco dancing in Southwest Louisiana, protecting my eardrums at a soundsystem party in Port Antonio, Jamaica, and immersing myself in the latest trends at the annual tech confab in Las Vegas, the Consumer Electronics Show.
I’ve reviewed golf courses, tents, energy bars, and trail-running shoes.
I like to find isolated places on the map and go there, when I’m not enjoying all that my hometown of DC and my second hometown — New Orleans — have to offer. Music, food and culture are my holy trinity.
To see examples of my work, check out my recent posts and archives.