I earned my BFA in Creative Writing from Roger Williams University, Bristol, RI, and my MA in Professional Writing & Publishing from Emerson College, Boston, MA. My first short story, “The Funny Company,” was published while I was in college. I haven’t stopped writing since.

My day job as a medical writer began at Brown University, where I wrote for the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior. I continued as a medical writer at the VA Boston Healthcare System, where I’ve written about everything from COVID 19 to chronic disease to military sexual trauma for more than 20 years. I discovered Annie Fox through my job at the VA. There is a mental telehealth tool called “The Annie,” which was named after her.

The Woman With A Purple Heart is based on the true story of the first woman to receive a Purple Heart – Lt. Annie Fox, Chief Nurse at Hickam Field’s hospital. Hickam Field was adjacent to Pearl Harbor and got hit just as hard on December 7, 1941. I first wrote this story as a screenplay, titled HICKAM, and it received excellent reviews on the Black List. Because I knew there was so much more to say about Annie and the men and women who served with her, I wrote the novel, which will be published by Sourcebooks — an imprint of Penguin Random House — in November 2023.

My screenplay PARAGRAPH 175 was on the first GLAAD List, was featured on the Black List, and was a Nicholl Screenwriting Fellowship semifinalist. Because there also was so much more to say about the doomed love story of Julian and August — the story’s protagonists, I wrote the novel. Please visit my New Works page to learn more.

I’m currently working on a new historical fiction novel about the women who developed the first effective vaccine for a deadly childhood disease. Please visit my Coming Soon page to learn more.

Whether I’m writing a novel or a screenplay, the themes that are most important to me include: Injustice, inequality, prejudice, loss, and love.

______________________________________

I’m represented by Mark Gottlieb (MGottlieb@tridentmediagroup.com) at Trident Media Group, NYC.