Biography

I'm an award-winning freelance writer and consultant with a PhD in sociology from Columbia University. I write mostly on health and speak on writing, book collaborations, and related topics. My consulting services include collaborative writing, book doctoring, editing, writing instruction and coaching, and speaking.

My coauthored books include the international bestsellers Strong Women Stay Young (Bantam, 1997 and 2000), written with Miriam Nelson, Ph.D., of Tufts University, as well as Strong Women Stay Slim (Bantam, 1998) and Strong Women, Strong Bones (Putnam, 2000), which received the Books for a Better Life award for best wellness book of 2000. Nearly one million copies of these three Strong Women books are in print in twelve languages.

My collaboration Lung Cancer: Myths, Facts, Choices – and Hope was written with Claudia Henschke, M.D., of Cornell University, who is leading groundbreaking research on early detection of lung cancer, and Peggy McCarthy, founder of the Alliance for Lung Cancer Advocacy, Support, and Education. The book was published by W.W. Norton in 2002 and released in paperback in 2003. It received the 2003 June Roth Memorial Award for Health and Medical Books from the American Society of Journalists and Authors, and was first place winner for trade books in the 2003 Medical Book Awards Competition of the American Medical Writers Association.

Next to reach bookstores is The Probiotics Revolution: The Definitive Guide to Safe, Natural Health Solutions Using Probiotic and Prebiotic Foods and Supplements, written with University of Michigan microbiologist Gary Huffnagle, Ph.D. The book will be published by Bantam in May, 2007.

In addition to collaborating, I've served as a book doctor. My best-known project is Diabesity: The Obesity-Diabetes Epidemic That Threatens America, by Francine Kaufman, M.D., past president of the American Diabetes Association. Dr. Kaufman's book was published by Bantam in 2005. It was praised for its writing by Publishers Weekly and Library Journal (which gave it a starred review).

My byline has appeared in Woman's Day, Working Mother, Parents, Smithsonian, The New York Times, and many other magazines and newspapers. I served as a contributing editor at Working Mother for seven years, writing their monthly health news column. Among my article awards is the 1997 American Medical Association President's Prize for excellence in tobacco reporting for The Silent Killer published in Ladies' Home Journal. This was the first feature article about lung cancer to appear in a major women's magazine.

I also write and speak about writing. My chapter on book collaborations appears in The ASJA Guide to Freelance Writing: A Professional Guide to the Business for Non-Fiction Writers of All Experience Levels, edited by Tim Harper for the American Society of Journalists and Authors, published by St. Martin's Press in 2003. I've presented talks and workshops at the Annual Writers Conference of the American Society of Journalists and Authors, the Nieman Conference on Narrative Journalism, and at events organized by the Authors Guild, the National Writers Union, and the Women's National Book Association.

In a previous life, I taught sociology at (among other places) Washington University and Northeastern University. But I abandoned academia to write professionally. Because I have an academic background, as well as extensive experience writing popular books and articles, I can be particularly helpful to professors, doctors, and other professionals hoping to share their expertise with a wider audience.

Updated January 1, 2007