|
BROWNLEE WINS 2003 VICTOR COHN PRIZEShannon Brownlee, a prolific freelance newspaper and magazine writer whose work has appeared in U.S. News & World Report, The Atlantic Monthly, Discover, New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, Discover, Business Week, and many other publications has been awarded the 2003 Victor Cohn Prize for Excellence in Medical Science Reporting. The prize, for a body or work published or broadcast within the last five years, is administered by the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing (CASW). The $3,000 award was presented to Brownlee on Oct. 27, in Knoxville, Tenn. at the Council’s 41st annual New Horizons in Science Briefing. The judges commended Brownlee for the broad range of her stories, many of which peel back the veneer of apparent truth to look far more deeply and critically at issues of importance in medicine and public health. Many of Brownlee’s stories have an edgy, investigative point-of-view that defies conventional wisdom. Among her recent pieces are “Bad Science and Breast Cancer” (Discover) which told the story of the dangerous, high-dose chemotherapy that was given to tens of thousands of breast cancer patients; “The Overtreated American” (The Atlantic), which examined the cost and causes of unneeded medical treatment; and “The Perils of Prevention” (New York Times Magazine), which described doctors’ growing willingness to treat mildly ill patients with therapies once reserved for the seriously ill. Brownlee, who holds a master’s degree in biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz, has worked for Discover, Sports Illustrated, and U.S. News & World Report. A freelance writer since 1999, she is the recipient of a Knight Fellowship in journalism at Stanford University. # (Source: CASW news release) |
