Tara Haelle

Tara Haelle is an independent science/health journalist, author, professional speaker, and photographer. With two decades of reporting experience under her belt, her work has appeared in the New York Times, National Geographic, Texas Monthly, NPR, Washington Post, Scientific American, Politico, Parents, Self, O Magazine, and Wired, among others. Her trade work covering medical research and medical conferences has appeared in MDEdge, Medscape/WebMD, and Haymarket titles. 

A former Forbes contributor, Tara is now a regular weekly contributor at Medium and blogs at the Association of Health Journalists, where she is the Medical Studies Core Topic Leader, providing resources and giving talks on responsible journalistic coverage of medical research. Her monthly blog at Science & the Sea, from the University of Texas Marine Science Institute, highlights short stories about marine life. 

She is especially passionate about reporting on vaccines and vaccine hesitancy, including helping people understand the risks and benefits of vaccines and explaining scientific findings in ways that the average person can easily understand. She recently served on an NIH panel to develop COVID-19 Vaccination Communication recommendations. Her other specialties include pediatrics, women’s and maternal health, mental health, infectious disease, public health, parenting, medical research, and general wellness. 

Tara’s most recent book, Vaccination Investigation: The History and Science of Vaccines, is a starred Kirkus book. She coauthored The Informed Parent: A Science-Based Resource for Your Child’s First Four Years and has written nearly a dozen children’s nonfiction science books. 

As a professional speaker, Tara spoke about vaccine hesitancy at TEDx Oslo and has delivered national and international keynotes, webinars and grand rounds on vaccines and vaccine hesitancy, parenting, understanding medical research, storytelling, and mental health, including how to manage the depletion of your personal surge capacity. 

Tara received her master’s in photojournalism from the University of Texas at Austin, and her images have appeared in NPR, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Chicago Sun-Times and Women’s Wear Daily. An avid traveler, Tara has backpacked, hiked, train-hopped, and motorbiked through more than 40 countries on six continents while eating strange insects, trekking to ancient ruins, and swimming with sharks. She lives in Texas with her husband and two sons, four dogs, a bearded dragon, and a dozen pet rats, give or take.