I have been a freelance writer for more than 25 years, ever since my older daughter was born (I have two girls, Jessica and Samantha, and a husband, Jeff). During this long, long time, I have specialized in science and medicine, and have accumulated lots of magazine articles that have been published in The New York Times Magazine, Scientific American, Civilization, Discover, and just about every women's magazine at the supermarket. I have also won some nice awards, most recently two Science in Society awards from the National Association of Science Writers, a one-year research fellowship from the Alicia Patterson Foundation and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and have done a lot of lecturing and teaching, including a stint at the esteemed Santa Fe Science Writing Workshop. 

These days, my main gig is as Contributing Writer forThe New York Times Magazine, for which I have been able to write some in-depth articles about some fascinating, complex topics: deception, obesity, and the search for the good death.  I also write book reviews for the Times, as well as occasional articles for the science section and the op-ed page, and I write personal essays whenever I get the chance.

My most recent book -- amazingly, I have written eight of them -- is Pandora's Baby, about the early days of in vitro fertilization research, the controversy surrounding the creation of the world's first test tube baby, and the ways in which that controversy sounds a lot like the debates now taking place about reproductive options like designer babies and human cloning. The book was the focus of a television documentary that aired on American Experience on PBS in the fall of 2006.  You can take a photo tour of embryonic development to get an idea of the science behind Pandora's Baby -- and you can get a taste of the book itself (which is a whole lot less technical than that photo tour might make you think) by reading the prologue.

As challenging as it is, freelance writing makes for a lonely life.  Luckily, I live in  the Morningside Heights  neighborhood of New York, an odd blend of quiet and lively, college town and gigantic city.  In a place like this, other people, including other writers, are always right outside the door.

Now that my nest is empty, my non-writing diversions can’t focus on my kids anymore the way it did when they were growing up and we lived in Takoma Park, a terrific, funky suburb of Washington, DC.  So I walk in Riverside Park every morning for exercise, walk all over the city with Jeff for fun, go to the theatre when we can afford it and to movies when we can't, read novels, go to museums, and host meetings of my writers salon, which has become my favorite part of living in New York.