Author, journalist Swerdlow Science Writer in Residence

Joel Swerdlow, an acclaimed author and journalist, will be the fall 2004 Science Writer in Residence the week of Nov. 8.

Swerdlow’s journalistic credentials include stints covering the White House and the Watergate trial for National Public Radio and contributing to many American newspapers and periodicals, including National Geographic, Harper’s Magazine, Wilson Quarterly and Rolling Stone. He is the author or editor of seven books, and in 1988 NBC produced a movie based on his book “To Heal a Nation: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial.”

As a contributor to National Geographic, Swerdlow has written about topics ranging from the information revolution and the human brain, to Burma, a country where he spent part of his childhood. His December1994 story, “America’s Poet: Walt Whitman,” was a 1995 National Magazine Award finalist.

As a science writer in residence, Swerdlow will spend time working with students, faculty and staff, and will deliver a public lecture, “The Rest are Left to Die: Health Care Rationing and the News Media,” at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 9, in the Memorial Union (check TITU). The lecture is free and open to the public.

The Science Writer in Residence Program, now in its 18th year, was established with the support of the Brittingham Trust. It continues with support from the UW Foundation and has brought to campus many of the nation’s leading science writers, including three whose work subsequently earned them the Pulitzer Prize, journalism’s most prestigious award.

The program is sponsored by the School of Journalism and Mass Communication and University Communications.