“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 thoughts into words and words onto paper, and now, into the digital universe. Being born and raised in Washington, D.C. gave me a certain admiration for journalists and journalism. It 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, including The Lancet and JAMA. Currently, I’m a contributing writer for Smithsonian.com, Medscape Medical News, and Oncology News Central, 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 has been a particular focus during my three-plus decades in Washington–from the Reagan Administration to the second Trump Administration–covering the beginnings of the AIDS crisis to the ascendance of the Affordable Care Act and the attempts to dismantle it. 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 into the U.S. Capitol, and House and Senate hearing rooms, and sat in on oral arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court. My coverage extends to the D.C. lobbying trade–from medical professional societies and the device and drug industry, to consumer advocates, and hospital and insurance associations.
But that’s not all! Over the years, I’ve sought out adventure wherever I could find it (or convince editors to send me), staking out a frozen hillside in the Sierra Nevadas for a snowshoe race, scrambling behind adventure racers through the rainforest in Borneo and the mountains of Patagonia, interviewing television impresario 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 tech trends at the Consumer Electronics Show.
I’ve reviewed golf courses, tents, energy bars, trail-running shoes and exhibits at the National Portrait Gallery, Museum of American Art, Museum of the American Indian, and the Renwick, among other jewels in the Smithsonian crown.
I like to find isolated places and go there, when I’m not enjoying the food and culture on offer in my new base of operations, St. Petersburg, Florida, or my second hometown of New Orleans. I play a lot of tennis!
To see examples of my work, check out my recent posts and archives.