For the last 20-plus years Karen Kreeger has attended the NASW annual meetings as a PIO, a staff writer, a freelancer, and a book author, not necessarily in that order. Kreeger is the Senior Science Communications Manager for Penn Medicine, responsible for disseminating information about the discoveries from the basic science departments and other physician-scientists. She was senior editor at The Scientist and had a freelance science communications business for several years. She wrote for such clients as Nature, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Fit Pregnancy, as well as the Oregon Coast Aquarium, the Plymouth Marine Aquarium, and the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Karen has an MS in Scientific and Technical Communication from Oregon State University, an MS in Marine Studies from the University of Delaware, and a BS in Environmental Resource Management from Penn State. She is also author of “Guide to Nontraditional Careers in Science.”

Evan Lerner is a Science News Officer in the University of Pennsylvania's Office of Communications. He covers new findings in the physical sciences and engineering, ranging from "cyborg" nano-noses that can detect odors associated with cancer to flying robots that work together to monitor fruit orchards. Prior to coming to Penn in 2011, he worked as a writer and editor for Seed Magazine and its blog network, ScienceBlogs.com. As someone who worked on both sides of the PIO divide, he is interested in helping researchers refine their ideas into the most powerful and clear language possible. He has a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University. 

David Malakoff is a Deputy News Editor at Science magazine in Washington, D.C., where he coordinates coverage of science policy and the environment. A native Washingtonian, David has covered the politics of science and research discoveries for more than 20 years. He’s particularly interested in how the work of scientists influences government policy, and how policymakers shape science. He has worked as a senior editor and correspondent for NPR’s Science Desk and as a freelancer for a wide range of outlets. When’s he not scanning the Congressional Record or journal TOCs, he’s out birding and whitewater kayaking.

Apoorva Mandavilli is a science journalist whose work has appeared in the New Yorker online, Slate, Popular Science, Discover, and others. She is also director of SFARI.org, the leading website for autism research news. She conceived and launched this website as editorially independent from its funder, the Simons Foundation. Prior to that, she was senior news editor of Nature Medicine, reporting from Asia, Africa, Europe and the U.S., primarily about infectious diseases and neuroscience, and wrote an opinion column for Nature’s news website. She is an adjunct faculty member in New York University’s Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program.

Whether fielding one of the hundreds of calls that flood the North Carolina Press Association’s legal hotline each year or fighting to keep a courtroom open, Amanda Martin enjoys combining her undergraduate degree in journalism from the University of Florida and her law degree from the University of North Carolina.

Ms. Martin serves as General Counsel to the N.C. Press Association, a membership organization of approximately 200 North Carolina newspapers, and N.C. Press Services. She routinely counsels reporters and editors about resisting subpoenas, avoiding libel suits, or gaining access to closed government meetings and records. Ms. Martin has enhanced and applied her media law concentration as an adjunct instructor in media law at UNC School of Law, Campbell University School of Law and the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communications. She is a frequent speaker and panelist at media law forums and workshops, including the NCPA’s Newspaper Academy, UNC’s Festival of Legal Learning, the Media and the Law Seminar in Kansas City, Mo., and Media Law in the Digital Age. Ms. Martin is an author and co-editor of the North Carolina Media Law Handbook, and she regularly contributes articles to legal and media law newsletters and other publications.

Ms. Martin also counsels clients on internet-related issues, trademark, copyright and other intellectual property matters as well as representing corporations in employment issues.

Ms. Martin’s professional activities have included serving as a director of the Wake County Bar Association and editor of its newsletter, chairing the N.C. Bar Association’s Constitutional Rights and Responsibility Section Council and serving on the Litigation Section Council of the N.C. Bar Association. She enjoys reading, cooking, and travel and is an active member of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church.

Amy Maxmen is the senior editor at Nautilus, where she mainly handles the biology beat. She has written science stories ranging from biomedical policy to mushroom art for a variety of print and online outlets, including Nature, New Scientist and Newsweek. She has a Ph.D. in evolution from Harvard University.