Maia Szalavitz is a journalist and author who has covered drugs, addiction and neuroscience for nearly three decades. She is a 2015/16 Soros Justice Fellow.

Her most recent book, Unbroken Brain: A Revolutionary New Way of Understanding Addiction, was published in April, 2016 by St. Martin’s Press. A previous book, Help at Any Cost: How the Troubled-Teen Industry Cons Parents and Hurts Kids, is the first history of “tough love” programs and helped spur Congressional hearings, investigations and proposed legislation.

She has written for many major publications including TIME, the New York Times, Elle, Scientific American, the Washington Post and Pacific Standard.

A former heroin and cocaine addict herself, her compassionate and evidence-based approach has been recognized with awards from the American Psychological Association, the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology and the Drug Policy Alliance.