Leslie Pray is a freelance science and medical writer based in western Massachusetts. She prepares science and science policy reports for the National Academy of Sciences, the U.S. federal government, professional scientific societies, and other clients. She also edits scientific papers for individual researchers, transforming long-winded technical text into highly readable (and sometimes even enjoyable) prose. She has written extensively on a range of genetic, biotechnology, infectious disease and public health issues for The Scientist, Nature Education, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Orion, Science and elsewhere.

Dr. Pray received her Ph.D. in population genetics from the University of Vermont and her B.A. degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

An elected member of Sigma Xi, Dr. Pray has been the recipient of numerous scientific research awards, including an American Society of Naturalists Young Investigator Prize, an Entomological Society of America John H. Comstock Award and a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship in Environmental Biology.