Presenting the 2022-24 NASW board of directors

As you all know, 2022 is an election year for NASW as well — and we are ever so pleased to announce the results of our executive board elections! The new board officially begins their term on Friday, Oct. 21, at their first meeting coinciding with ScienceWriters2022 in Memphis.

Being a volunteer-led member organization, we are incredibly grateful to everyone who boldly put their name forth for candidacy. It’s a show of dedication and care for our professional community to seek the responsibilities of the board, and we thank you all for running in this election. And to all our Professional members who took time to vote last month, we thank you for your interest and thoughtfulness in steering the continued progress of our national association.

Now, let’s meet your 2022-2024 executive board officers and board members:

NASW PRESIDENT

Cassandra Willyard | she/her | @cwillyard
Freelance

Cassandra has been a freelance science journalist for more than a decade, writing for the New York Times, Nature, Popular Science, Scientific American, Discover, and numerous other publications. All of us have benefited from Cassandra's contributions these past two years: as NASW vice president and chair of the NASW Programs Committee, she led the session proposals review and program slate selection for our ScienceWriters2021 and ScienceWriters2022 annual meetings. First elected to our board in 2018, you can finally write to Cassandra as “president” at president@nasw.org starting Oct. 21!

NASW VICE PRESIDENT

Sandeep Ravindran | he/him | @sandeeprtweets
Freelance

A freelance science journalist with bylines in New York Times, TIME, Smithsonian, National Geographic News, Nature, WIRED, and other outlets, Sandeep is now serving his third term on the NASW board, having served as NASW treasurer for the past two years and NASW secretary before that. Additionally, Sandeep has helped organize the Power Pitch and Pitch Fest events at several NASW annual meetings — and as VP, he will assume the role of Programs Committee chair to curate ScienceWriters2023 and ScienceWriters2024.

NASW SECRETARY

Jyoti Madhusoodanan | she/her | @smjyoti
Freelance

Covering the life sciences, health, ethics and equity for Scientific American, Nature, Undark, Chemical & Engineering News, and other outlets, Jyoti was first elected to the NASW board in 2020. She recently concluded five years as co-chair of the NASW Awards Committee, overseeing our journalism awards and our institutional writing awards. Jyoti’s volunteering also extends to the Ethics Committee and Education Committee, as well as co-organizing this year’s Source Diversity Tracking Workshop.

NASW TREASURER

Shraddha Chakradhar | she/her | @scchak
Deputy editor, diversity for Science

With past career stops at STAT and the Nieman Journalism Lab, Shraddha is now entering her second term on the NASW board. You’ve seen Shraddha’s past contributions as a past co-chair of the NASW Diversity Committee — and in co-organizing the ScienceWriters2020 plenary session exploring best practices towards more diverse and equitable science writing. As Treasurer, Shraddha now leads the NASW Finance and Audit Committee, which is currently seeking new volunteer members!

BOARD MEMBERS-AT-LARGE

Amanda Heidt | she/her | @Scatter_Cushion
Associate editor for The Scientist

Amanda attended her first NASW Internship Fair in 2020 in Seattle, which led to an internship with The Scientist and eventually a staff reporter position. She recently was promoted to an editor role with her magazine — and now she’ll also help lead NASW as a first-time board member! Bringing her professional perspectives as a past staff writer, PIO, and freelancer, Amanda is eager to pay forward the mentoring and career development opportunities that she herself benefited from through her NASW membership.

Ana Gorelova | she/her | @AnaGorelova
Media relations manager for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center

Another first-time board member, Ana first came across NASW as an international student whilst pursuing her doctoral research. Ana credits that first ScienceWriters conference as her “finding your people” moment, and her career has taken her to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch as a journalism intern; then co-founding the Appalachian Science Communicators regional group, and now as a PIO with her graduate alma mater. Encouraging early career and immigrant writers will be among Ana’s passions as she leads NASW.

Jane C. Hu | she/they | @jane_c_hu
Freelance

Writing and editing at publications like High Country News and Slate, Jane is now entering her second term on the NASW board. She credits NASW resources like Words Worth, the compensation surveys, online events and our annual meetings as invaluable assists in developing her career. Jane brings past perspectives from journalism, institutional outreach, and science communication course instruction to her board service, steering our organization’s role in service to our professional peers, the public, and society.

Kat Eschner | she/her | @KatEschner
Affordability reporter for TVO (Canada)

Like many other NASW members, Kat’s first exposure to NASW came at a conference — for her it was the WCSJ 2017 in San Francisco. Since then, Kat has been active in NASW by co-organizing a ScienceWriters2019 session on data security and by volunteering with the Virtual Mentoring Program. Another first-time board member, Kat credits NASW for her continued career in journalism, singing praise for NASW’s professional development opportunities — and a feeling of community and belonging with colleagues both near and far!

Kelly Tyrrell | she/her | @kellyperil
Director of media relations and strategic communications for the University of Wisconsin-Madison

When Kelly attended her first NASW meeting in 2013, she had just begun freelancing, having been laid off from a staff newspaper job. Her story is by now a familiar one: NASW became Kelly’s career community, and she has been keen to give back ever since. Another first-time board member, Kelly has already served on the NASW Diversity Committee, as co-chair of the PIO Committee, co-organizing the ScienceWriters2019 plenary; and mentoring student members through Education Committee programming. Among other interests, Kelly is excited to help bridge our journalism community and our PIO community towards common goals.

Marilynn Marchione | @MMarchioneAP
Chief medical writer (retired) for Associated Press

Bringing 17 years of experience with AP plus past careers with large urban newspapers and a university news service, Marilynn now continues her NASW board service for a second term, as well as her work on the NASW Finance Committee. Marily writes: “I've had a long and good career, and I hope to help others working in a challenging media environment now.” Look for Marilynn’s many past contributions over the history of our ScienceWriters annual meetings — as well as her continued role steering NASW’s finances, partnerships, and collaborations!

Marla Broadfoot | she/her | @mvbroadfoot
Freelance and contributing editor for American Scientist

Another first-time board member, Marla’s work has appeared in Scientific American, Science, STAT, The Scientist, Discover, Nature News, and Science News, among others. Marla recently concluded five years leading the Science Communicators of North Carolina regional group, where she also served on the planning team to help bring ScienceWriters2012 to North Carolina. Marla’s familiarity with NASW extends towards our Peggy Girshman Idea Grants as a past recipient; Awards Committee as a past judge; and our annual meetings as a session organizer.

Matt Shipman | he/him | @ShipLives
Research communications lead for North Carolina State University

First elected to the NASW board in 2016, Matt has worked as a staff reporter, freelance reporter, editor, blogger, and written a handbook for research PIOs. Matt has brought these many perspectives to NASW board deliberations over these many years — and he is excited to continue guiding NASW in our continued role serving our colleagues and our broader community.

Rodrigo Pérez Ortega | he/him | @rpocisv
Staff writer for Science

Reelected to his second term on the NASW board, Rodrigo has deep experience with NASW’s professional programming. He is concluding his three-year stint as co-chair of the NASW Diversity Committee, where he has shepherded the NASW Diversity Summer Fellowship — of which he is a past recipient — and the more recently launched Diversity Reporting Grants serving freelance creatives. From his home base in Mexico City, Rodrigo also helped launch our first-ever Mid-Career Mentoring Program this year via our NASW Journalism Committee.

Ramin Skibba | he/him | @RaminSkibba
Space writer for WIRED

Before joining WIRED in 2022, Ramin freelanced for five years for a variety of outlets including Scientific American, Slate, the Atlantic, Nature, and Undark. Volunteering with NASW, Ramin has served on the Freelance Committee and Diversity Committee, focusing on freelancer grievances, the impacts of labor laws on freelancers, and the struggles of caregivers and parents who work as science writers. Continuing on his second term on the NASW board, Ramin also brings past experience running the San Diego Science Writers Association.

Tyler Jones | she/her | @melliferocity
Program assistant for the Boston University SciCommers

Elected to the NASW board for the first time, Tyler joined NASW as a student member in 2019, the same semester she decided to leave academia and carve a career in science communication and science journalism. Her impact on the broader community has been evident, co-organizing the 2020 and 2021 iterations of Black Birders Week, and now curating career transition resources as the Program Assistant for the SciCommers at Boston University (formerly NPR Scicommers).

Once again, please extend your congratulations to these colleagues on their election to the NASW board. Our professional community is an interactive one — so be sure to reach out to these peers with your feedback, concerns, and curiosities for our continued progress over the next two years!

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Founded in 1934 with a mission to fight for the free flow of science news, NASW is an organization of ~ 2,700 professional journalists, authors, editors, producers, public information officers, students and people who write and produce material intended to inform the public about science, health, engineering, and technology. To learn more, visit www.nasw.org

A 501(c)(6) organization, the NASW board has governance and fiduciary duties over the organization. Elections are open to NASW holding Professional Membership and are held every two years. For complete bylaws, visit www.nasw.org/constitution-and-bylaws-national-association-science-writers-inc

Per NASW bylaws, a board vice president is voted in as president-elect. Thus, the vice president of the previous board term is the de facto candidate for president in each election. For a historic list of NASW presidents since 1934, visit www.nasw.org/past-presidents