I am a science journalist who writes about the brain, health disparities and policies and the LGBTQ+ community. Specifically, my passion lies in deep-dive and investigative pieces on health care discrimination against marginalized groups, including transgender and queer people.
My work has appeared in High Country News, Kaiser Health News, Knowable Magazine, Nature Magazine, The New York Times, Science Magazine, Scientific American, Slate, Smithsonian Magazine, WIRED and more. I’ve covered stories about my missing left temporal lobe and how the neural networks critical for language managed to rewire themselves, how Medicaid and insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act often don’t cover the basics, including injectable estrogen, needed by many trans Americans, and how the medical coding system used by health insurance companies discriminates against transgender patients seeking gender-affirming care.
Before becoming a journalist, I was a research assistant at Boston Children’s Hospital where I managed a clinical study on the nasty headaches that appear after a concussion. I quickly realized that, although I love the brain, I enjoy talking about it far more than studying it.
Originally from New England — and always a New Englander at heart — I now live in Colorado with my wife, two dogs, two cats and many plants. I spend my free time hiking, skiing, trail running and cuddling up beside the fireplace I wish we had.