I try to use journalism to explore how communities, institutions, and governments impact their environment, other species, and fellow humans' health and well-being—for better and worse.
I was first exposed to the natural world in Chicago’s forest preserves and museums, and I fell in love with the written word in its public schools and libraries. While taking classes at Harold Washington College, a professor convinced me to study the life sciences. I finished with a Bachelor of Science in biology from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
I spent a few years in health and environmental research: I monitored invasive plants’ takeover of lakeshore dunes, investigated the spread of hospital-acquired infections, and peered into the brains of finches to find the genetic pathways involved in learning how to sing.
In 2015, I transitioned to journalism, learning on the job as a freelancer and with a string of internships. My work has appeared in The Scientist, Symmetry, Scientific American, Nature, South Side Weekly, In These Times, Al Jazeera, and Smithsonian Magazine.
In June 2019 I joined South Side Weekly as its politics editor. I am a member of the Society of Professional Journalists, the National Association of Science Writers, and the National Writers' Union (UAW Local 1981).
