Writing

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Article History

Freelance Journalism​​

• ​Nature. Trump blew up the global fight against AIDS. Can it recover? April 30, 2025.

• Smithsonian Magazine. For Some Women With Serious Physical Ailments, Mental Illness Has Become a Scapegoat Diagnosis. March 25, 2025.

• TIME. Alcohol Warning Labels May Not Be Enough to Change Americans’ Behaviors. March 17, 2025.

• Scientific American. Moderate Drinking Carries Health Risks—Here’s How to Imbibe More Safely. January 28, 2025.

• NPR. If confirmed as HHS secretary, RFK Jr. would have a vast global reach. January 28, 2025.

• The Guardian. The people fighting to get through to anti-science Americans: ‘It’s just talking to each other’. January 13, 2025.

• NBC News. In rural America, heart disease is increasingly claiming younger lives. December 21, 2024.

• NBC News. Undiagnosed depression in cancer patients is one of the biggest gaps in treatment. November 29, 2024.

• Nature. How students and grandparents could solve the global mental-health crisis. November 20, 2024.

• Scientific American. Decriminalization Wasn't the Real Culprit in Oregon's Overdose Death Spike. October 21, 2024.

• The Guardian. ‘Our new doctors have no clue about leprosy’: experts sceptical of India’s target to eliminate the disease by 2027. September 30, 2024.

• NBC News. Syphilis is at its highest levels since the 1950s. Here’s how experts are trying to fix that. September 8, 2024.

• National Geographic. What we're learning from lung cancer patients who never smoked. August 20, 2024.

• National Geographic. What America can learn from Rwanda to solve its mental health crisis. July 26, 2024.

• The Guardian. He was shot in the throat. Now he saves gun victims as a trauma surgeon in Baltimore. June 20, 2024.

• New Scientist. The surprising mental health and brain benefits of weight-loss drugs. June 12, 2024.

• MIT Technology Review. This AI-powered “black box” could make surgery safer. June 7, 2024.

• Scientific American. A Grassroots Approach to Clinical Trial Diversity. April 16, 2024.

• NPR. Here are 3 solutions to get blood to folks in 'blood deserts.' One is often illegal. April 11, 2024.

• STAT. Baylor wins 2024 STAT Madness with ‘smoke alarm’ for viral disease outbreaks. April 5, 2024.

• NBC News. Asian American women are getting lung cancer despite never smoking. It’s baffling scientists and leading to more research. March 7, 2024.

• NASW. At AAAS, a controversial proposal to declare fentanyl a 'Weapon of Mass Destruction.' February 26, 2024.

• STAT. Opioid cravings were reduced by anti-obesity drug in small study. February 17, 2024.

• NPR. The malaria vaccine that just rolled out has a surprise benefit for kids. January 24, 2024.

• NPR. Why diphtheria is making a comeback. January 23, 2024.

• The Guardian. Everyone is on their phones. But is it really phone addiction we’re experiencing? January 3, 2024.

• NPR. New Zealand's Indigenous people are furious over plans to snuff out anti-smoking laws. December 6, 2023.

• NPR. It's one of the world's toughest anti-smoking laws. The Māori see a major flaw. October 1, 2023.

• Smithsonian Magazine. Can Digital Psychiatry Really Fill the Mental Health Care Gap? May 12, 2023.

• Smithsonian Magazine. When Should I Get Another Covid Booster? April 27, 2023.

• The Guardian. Should we ban the purchase of cigarettes for life? A US town is trying. March 31, 2023.

• Smithsonian Magazine. Six Lessons We’ve Learned From Covid That Will Help Us Fight the Next Pandemic. December 30, 2022.

• Harvard Public Health. Cholera outbreaks surge worldwide, renewing debates on vaccines. December 7, 2022.

• NPR. African scientists say Western aid to fight pandemic is backfiring. Here's their plan. November 4, 2022.

• The Atlantic. Doctors Still Struggle to Diagnose a Condition That Kills More Americans Than Stroke. October 16, 2022 - originally published in Undark and republished in Smithsonian Magazine, Popular Science, Ars Technica, Medscape, etc. 

• Smithsonian Magazine. Four Big Questions About the New Covid-19 Boosters, Answered. September 15, 2022.

• Scientific American. Most People at Risk for Lung Cancer Never Get Screened: Here’s How to Fix That. September 6, 2022.

• WIRED. This Follicle-Hacking Drug Could One Day Treat Baldness. September 6, 2022.

• Smithsonian Magazine. Six Big Questions About the Monkeypox Virus, Answered. August 30, 2022.

• Slate. How to Raise a Pig for Its Organs. August 30, 2022.

• The Guardian. Pig to human heart transplants are the future. Are we ready for it? August 4, 2022.

• TIME Magazine. How to Return to Normal After Having Your Bladder Surgically Removed. July 28, 2022.

• Washington Post. Racial bias is built into the design of pulse oximeters. July 27, 2022.

• The Guardian. Voting is significant determinant of health, US medical association declares. July 14, 2022.

• Smithsonian Magazine. Why Exactly Did the First Human Patient to Receive a Pig Heart Die? July 14, 2022.

• Boston Globe. A blood-oxygen detector without racial bias. July 5, 2022.

• Smithsonian Magazine. What You Need to Know About the History of Monkeypox. June 24, 2022.

• Washington Post. After centuries, we still can’t perform animal-to-human transplants. June 1, 2022.

• Sentient Media. Inside the Pig Heart Transplant and Ethical Dilemma That Followed. April 26, 2022.​

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STAT Journalism, Washington DC Reporter (Summer 2023)​

• STAT+. Medicare Advantage plans for dual-eligible enrollees set to get Senate scrutiny. September 26, 2023. (PDF here)

• STAT+. What do new weight loss drugs mean for the future of bariatric surgery? August 28, 2023. (PDF here​​​)

• STAT+. Mid-year drug price hikes are back despite Inflation Reduction Act. August 24, 2023. (PDF here​​​)

• STAT+. Obesity specialists are scarce. Here’s how that’s starting to change. August 23, 2023. (PDF here​​​)

• STAT. Why so few get screened for lung cancer, the deadliest cancer in the U.S. August 18, 2023.

• STAT. Meet the scientists trying to stop the next global pandemic from starting in Africa. August 9, 2023.

• STAT+. Wegovy cardiovascular study has doctors seeing new possibilities in weight loss drug. August 8, 2023. (PDF here​​)

• STAT. Pandemic slowed cancer diagnoses, but late-stage cancers came back with a vengeance. August 4, 2023.

• STAT+. Mental illness, drug addiction go hand in glove, Biden’s drug czar tells lawmakers. July 27, 2023. (PDF here​)

• STAT. A psychologist’s lifetime of challenging assumptions while living with paralysis. July 26, 2023.

• STAT+. FDA official pushes for a dedicated emerging pathogens team to prepare for the next pandemic. July 21, 2023.  (PDF here​)

• STAT+. Superbugs, antibiotic resistance get renewed scrutiny in Congress. July 11, 2023. (PDF here)

• STAT. Why nearly half of Americans with Parkinson’s don’t see a neurologist. July 10, 2023.

• STAT+. UPenn and St. Luke’s have withdrawn from US News’ best hospitals list. Will others follow? July 6, 2023. (PDF here)

• STAT+. From ‘Jeopardy!’ to Politico, the PBM ad wars are taking over D.C. July 6, 2023. (PDF here)

• STAT. Malaria cases in Florida and Texas: Here’s what you need to know. June 30, 2023.

• STAT. ‘We fail people’: New data on disparities in Medicaid access to opioid addiction treatment. June 23, 2023.

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Essays

• The Hill. Congress’ failure to pass the farm bill reflects a long history of hunger as a political tool. September 27, 2024.

• Undark. Mpox Offers Another Chance to Confront Vaccine Inequity. September 5, 2024.

• TIME. It’s Time to Start Taking Mpox and Bird Flu Seriously. August 19, 2024.

• Slate. Fatphobia Hurts Thin People Too. May 13, 2024.

• The Hill. Penn, Harvard resignations show ‘safe spaces’ can backfire. Here’s how we can move to ‘brave spaces.' January 3, 2024.

• TIME. Ozempic Can’t Fix America’s Obesity Crisis. November 8, 2023.

• Newsweek. Oliver Anthony Offers New Song, Same Old Tune on Race and Obesity. September 12, 2023.

• Think Global Health. Rwanda’s Health-Care Success Holds Lessons for Others. May 17, 2023.

• Harvard Public Health. Global health must evolve beyond its reliance on humanitarian aid. April 12, 2023.

• STAT. Promises — and pitfalls — of ChatGPT-assisted medicine. February 1, 2023.

• Newsweek. It's Not About the Sentence, It's How We Prevent the Next Parkland. October 17, 2022.

• The Scientist. Splashing Cold Water on Poop Transplants for Weight Loss. September 1, 2022.

• Undark. The United States’ Unvarnished Cruelty in Afghanistan. August 25, 2022.

• JoySauce. I Got My First Hair Cut at Age 17. August 18, 2022.

• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Expect more supply chain shortages in things we need. June 28, 2022.

• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The 'Scopes Monkey Trial' didn’t solve anything, neither will debates on parental rights. May 14, 2022