Professional Experience

Current         Journalist/editor/lecturer      

  • Staff reporter for U.S. Right to Know, a nonprofit public health watchdog group, covering commercial determinants of health (CDoH) as part of a new project Healthwire

  • Lecturer in journalism at Lake Forest College

  • Freelance clients have included individuals and organizations nationwide, including magazines, academic institutions, nonprofits, digital content agencies, book publishers, advertising firms, and others. Topics range from science, technology, health care, and medicine to the environment, business, crime, education, and advertising. Past contributor to The Boston Globe Magazine, The Daily Mail, National Geographic News, MSN.com, Slate, WBUR (NPR’s Boston-based affiliate radio station), et al.

June 2010-present         Nonfiction Author, little, Brown & co.             

  • Co-author of “Three Wishes: A True Story of Good Friends, Crushing Heartbreak, and Amazing Luck on Our Way to Love and Motherhood” (Little, Brown & Co. 2010) Foreign rights sold in five countries; film rights optioned by Red Crown Productions (“The Kids Are All Right”)

Sept. 2005-May 2016          Journalism Instructor

  • Adjunct professor and lecturer at Boston University, DePaul University, and Lake Forest College for undergraduate and graduate courses in News Writing & Reporting, Journalism, Editing and Publishing; also served as Emerson College writing coach

Sept. 2003-May 2004         MIT Knight Fellowship                             

  • One of 10 U.S. and foreign journalists chosen to study science journalism at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Oct. 1997-Aug. 2003       Reporter, The Washington Post               

  • New England correspondent with coverage including 9/11 (Pulitzer Prize, National Desk) and the Roman Catholic Church clergy sexual abuse scandal

Dec. 1996-Oct. 1997       Freelance journalist                               

  • Contributor to The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Miami Herald, The Economist, Frontline (WGBH)

April 1994-Dec. 1996       Reporter, The Boston Globe                    

  • Metro reporter with coverage including TWA Flight 800 and Brookline abortion clinic shootings

June 1991-March 1994     Reporter, The Miami Herald                     

  • Metro reporter with coverage including Hurricane Andrew (Pulitzer Prize, Public Service) and Baby Theresa (Pulitzer Prize team finalist)

Nov. 1989-Aug. 1990       Reporter, American Metal Market           

  • European correspondent for London-based daily commodities newspaper

Degrees

  • M.S., Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism

  • M.A., School of Slavonic & East European Studies, University of London

  • B.A., cum laude, Political Science/Soviet & East European Studies, Tufts University

Fellowships-Residencies

  • Casey Journalism Center for Children and Families, Regional Fellowship, Fall 1997

  • Environment Fellowship, Acadian Institute for Journalism & Natural Resources, Summer 2000

  • MIT Knight Science Journalism Fellowship, Fall 2003-Spring 2004

  • Also: Vermont Studio Center, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Bear River Writers Conference, Interlochen, Byrdcliffe Colony, and Dorset Colony House for creative writing

References

  • Donna Leinwand, former Managing Editor, USA Today, and former president of the National Press Club

  • Cameron McWhirter, Reporter, Wall Street Journal

  • Beth Daley, Editor and General Manager, The Conversation US

  • Philip Bennett, Eugene C. Patterson Professor of the Practice of Journalism and Public Policy, Duke University, and former Managing Editor of The Washington Post

“I’ve always learned from Pam: her doggedness in reporting to get at the truth; her ability to contextualize stories so their national or international importance was apparent; her ability to get people to talk to her – honestly and frankly – about some of the most difficult issues in their life. Pam is one of the most gifted writers I know, both in explaining complex issues but also telling real human stories so they have impact far beyond whom she is writing about.”
— Beth Daley, Editor and General Manager of The Conversation US