How 3 Companies Put Health At The Heart Of The Workplace
Paid brand journalism for American Heart Association.
Health & Medicine
Education
Science
Fitness & Nutrition
Lifestyle
Wellness
Technology
I’m a freelance writer and content strategist in the Philadelphia area with more than 15 years of experience. I have a master’s in journalism from Columbia University, and worked as a staff reporter for Newsday, a daily newspaper on Long Island, New York, before going freelance in 2009. Now I craft clear and compelling health and science content for academic medical centers, universities, health care associations, and other institutional clients. I’m a frequent contributor to Penn Medicine magazine, and have written cover stories for Columbia Medicine magazine, the Drexel University College of Medicine Alumni Magazine, and The Physiologist Magazine.
My freelance journalism has appeared in Latina, Next Avenue, ZDNet (formerly SmartPlanet), and many other publications. I was a recipient of the Dennis A. Hunt Fund for Health Journalism grant, administered by the University of Southern California at Annenberg, to report on a troubled health care system in a New Jersey city and local attempts to find solutions. That project became a series of articles published in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
My favorite stories delve into the human side of health care, inviting readers into the complex worlds of medicine and science through character-driven narrative, immersive scenes, and a keen eye for detail. A few highlights: covering optometrists caring for patients through personal tragedy, providers sounding the alarm on mental health disparities, and designers building the hospital of the future.
Subjects
General
Specialties
Academic medicine, medical education, health technology (healthIT), health care innovation, mental health, public health, women’s health, nursing, optometry, research magazines
Skills
- Blog posts
- Case studies
- Communications strategy
- Conference coverage
- Content marketing
- E-books
- Editing
- Essays
- Feature writing
- Ghostwriting
- Ideation
- News
- Profiles
- Q&A
- Web copy
- White papers
- Conference/meeting coverage
- Annual reports
- Articles
- Copywriting
- News releases
- Brochures
- Coaching
- Donor communications
- Fundraising appeals
- Infographics
Writing Credits
HEALTH CARE CLIENTS: Penn Medicine, University of Iowa Health Care, American Optometric Association, American Physiological Society.
CONTENT MARKETING CLIENTS: AARP, Costco, Fortune Brand Studio, Studio B/Boston Globe.
ALUMNI MAGAZINES: University of Pennsylvania, Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine, Penn Nursing, Penn Dental Medicine, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Drexel University College of Medicine, Rutgers University, Boston University College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Southern College of Optometry.
CONSUMER PUBLICATION CREDITS: Newsday, Philadelphia Inquirer, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Reuters, ZDNet, PBS Next Avenue, Latina, New Jersey Monthly, and others.
Awards, Honors, Appointments
“Right From The Start,” my cover story for Penn Medicine magazine on Black maternal health, received a 2024 Gold Award for Excellence in the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Initiatives category of the Association of American Medical Colleges Group on Institutional Advancement awards.
The piece also won the American Society of Journalists and Authors 2024 Award for Best B2C Article in 2024.
“Which Skin Care Products Do We Really Need?“, for UCSF Magazine, received an honorable mention in the short-form category of the 2024 National Association of Science Writers’ Excellence in Institutional Writing Awards.
I was a recipient of the Dennis A. Hunt Fund for Health Journalism grant, administered by the University of Southern California at Annenberg, to report on a troubled health care system in a New Jersey city and local attempts to find solutions. That project became a series of articles published in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Selected Work
As author, unless indicated otherwise.
Right from the Start
This project began as a content strategy engagement to help Penn Medicine to tell the story of its leadership in maternal health. I interviewed more than a dozen healthcare providers and patients, compiling hundreds of pages of research that enabled the health system to produce a variety of maternal health content, including news releases, patient stories and thought leadership. The centerpiece of this content was a 5,000-word magazine cover story.
The project received a Gold Award for Excellence in the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Initiatives category of the Association of American Medical Colleges Group on Institutional Advancement awards. The cover story also won the American Society of Journalists and Authors 2024 Award for Best B2C Article.
ReadRead
Meet the Great Disrupters: The Costly Toll of Chronic Conditions in the Workplace
Article series on how chronic conditions affect people in the workplace.
The Road to Rejuvenation
Fortified stem cells. Enhanced memory. A longevity hormone. UCSF researchers are finding out whether we can cancel – or at least delay – old age.
Healing Through Connections: The Latest in Spinal Cord Injury Research
It’s been more than a quarter-century since a small group of faculty members at the Medical College of Pennsylvania — now Drexel University College of Medicine — built the first institution in the mid-Atlantic dedicated to spinal cord injury research. “[The founders] created a culture of excitement and drive to find new discoveries and celebrate the work that everybody was doing,” says Michele Basso, PhD. “I still try to think that way.”
Today, hundreds of College of Medicine graduates who studied at the Marion Murray Spinal Cord Research Center (co-founder Murray’s name was added to the center’s title after her 2018 passing) have fanned out around the globe. “In a small subfield of neuroscience, [the center] has a lot of important impact,” says Nicholas Au Yong, MD, PhD neuroscience ’11. “It was a special place to grow up.”
These innovators have charted their own paths in the field of spinal cord injury research and treatment, but each has taken a piece of the center along with them. Here are four of their stories, and a look at what’s new in this important field.
Contact Christina Hernandez Sherwood
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