On January 16, 2026, NASW joined the Society of Professional Journalists and 17+ organizations in calling on the Deparment of Justice and "all public officials to remember a fundamental truth: When journalists are silenced, all Americans pay the price."
Fraud in science and medicine erodes trust in these fields, harms patients and families, delays effective treatment, and wastes vast sums. In Doctored: Fraud, Arrogance, and Tragedy in the Quest to Cure Alzheimer's, Charles Piller exposes false data in 100s of Alzheimer’s research papers and explores the path forward. He won CASW’s 2025 Victor Cohn Prize for Excellence in Medical Science Reporting.
The Institutional Communicators Committee invites all institutional communicators for an informal meetup to chat about our plans for the new year and connect over our shared goals and challenges. We’re excited to continue building this vital community in 2026; come say hello!
Video archive of members-only NASW virtual events from 2026.
“Writing is hard. Teaching and mentoring writing often is even harder. It doesn’t have to be,” Bethann Garramon Merkle and Stephen Heard assert in Teaching and Mentoring Writers in the Sciences: An Evidence-Based Approach. Students need writing skills they can use over their entire careers, the authors say. They offer teachers a well-stocked toolbox of tactics to help students achieve that goal.
NASW student members looking for great science writing internships or one-on-one networking conversation with editors at news and science organizations are invited to register for the 2026 NASW Virtual Internship Fair.
Dec. 19, 2025
Cancer and other work-related illnesses take 120,000 lives in the U.S. annually, Jim Morris writes in The Cancer Factory: Industrial Chemicals, Corporate Deception, and the Hidden Deaths of American Workers, NASW’s 2025 Science in Society Book Award winner. Workers are mostly on their own, he says. Workplace safety varies. OSHA’s ineffectual. Physicians often fail to ask patients what work they do.
The NASW Freelance Committee virtual meetup on Feb. 5 will be an open networking social with small group discussions in breakout rooms.
Medical editing is a helping profession that benefits publishers, authors, patients, the media, and the public, Barbara Gastel asserts in Medical Editing: A Guide to Learning the Craft and Building Your Career. Her book aims to introduce the field, foster readers’ core knowledge and skills, and describe career possibilities. “Even the best writers,” she says, “benefit from the input of an editor.”
