Helen Pearson (science journalist)

Helen Pearson is a science journalist, author and Chief Magazine Editor for the journal Nature, where she oversees the journalism and opinion content. She is the author of The Life Project,[1] a book about the British birth cohort studies, a series of longitudinal studies which have tracked thousands of people since their birth.

Helen Pearson (science journalist)
Born
Helen Catharine Pearson

1973
NationalityBritish
OccupationScience Journalist
Notable work
'The Life Project'

Education

Pearson obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Natural Sciences (Genetics) from the University of Cambridge in 1996.[2] She was awarded her PhD in 1999 from the University of Edinburgh, for research completed at the Medical Research Council Human Genetics Unit.[3] Her PhD thesis was on the role of the gene Pax6 in development of the cortex.[4][5]

Career

Pearson joined Nature in 2001 as a reporter. She has interviewed and written about many high-profile scientists and academics for Nature including Robert Langer,[6] Lawrence Summers[7] and Joe Thornton.[8] She has written freelance articles in outlets including The Guardian[9][10] and The Independent.[11]

Pearson's book, The Life Project: The extraordinary story of our ordinary lives was published by Allen Lane in 2016[1] and is about the British birth cohort studies. The oldest of these studies, the National Survey of Health and Development (NSHD), started in 1946, and the series includes the National Child Development Study, established in 1958, the 1970 British Cohort Study and the Millennium Cohort Study of babies born in 2000-2001. Pearson also included in her book the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, also known as Children of the 90s.

Appearances

Pearson has given public lectures and talks at academic venues and literary and science festivals including the Edinburgh International Book Festival,[12] the RSA,[13] London School of Economics[14] and Dartington Way with Words Literary Festival.[15] She gave the keynote public lecture at the British Society for the History of Science conference in 2017.[16]  

She has appeared on national and international radio including Radio 4’s Start the Week,[17] and has written about science writing and journalism as a career option for scientists.[18]

In 2017, she gave a TED talk based on her book, The Life Project.[1][19]

Awards

Pearson’s book, The Life Project[1] was named best science book of the year by The Observer,[20] was a book of the year for The Economist[21] and was longlisted for the Orwell Prize,[22] Highly Commended at the 2017 British Medical Association medical book awards and Highly Commended in the 2016 UK Medical Journalists’ Association Awards.[23]

  • 2013 Winner, Medical Journalists’ Association Award For feature article Coming of Age[24]
  • 2012 Winner Best Feature, Association of British Science Writers Award[25] For feature article Study of a Lifetime[26]
  • 2010 Winner Best Feature, Association of British Science Writers Award[27] For feature article One Gene, Twenty Years[28]
  • 2010 Winner, Wistar Science Journalism Award[29] For feature article One Gene, Twenty Years[28]

Published works
  • The Life Project[1]
  • What makes some people happy, healthy and successful – and others not?[9]
  • Britain’s birth cohort studies are the envy of the world[11]
  • Lab Girl by Hope Jahren – what a life in science is really like[10]
  • The lab that knows where your time really goes[30]
  • Prehistoric proteins: Raising the Dead[31]
  • Children of the 90s: Coming of Age[24]
  • Study of a Lifetime[26]
  • One Gene, Twenty Years[28]
  • Protein engineering: The fate of fingers[32]
  • At-Home DNA Tests Are Here, But Doctors Aren't Celebrating[33]
gollark: WHAT?!
gollark: What could possibly go wrong?
gollark: Why not try building your own model of physics on top of type theory?
gollark: Down with god(s)!
gollark: I have some blueprints for that, but they only work in factorio.

Official website[2]

References
  1. Pearson, Helen (2017). The Life Project. Penguin. ISBN 9780141976617.
  2. "About Helen Pearson". Helen Pearson.
  3. "About the Editors". Nature.com.
  4. Pearson, Helen (2002). "Pax6 is required to regulate the cell cycle and the rate of progression from symmetrical to asymmetrical division in mammalian cortical progenitors". Development.
  5. Pearson, Helen (2003). "Pax6 regulates cell adhesion during cortical development". Cerebral Cortex. 13 (6): 612–9. doi:10.1093/cercor/13.6.612. PMID 12764036.
  6. "Nature".
  7. "The Premier Division". Nature.com.
  8. "Prehistoric proteins: Raising the dead". Nature.com.
  9. "The Life Project: what makes some people happy, healthy and successful – and others not?". The Guardian.
  10. "Lab Girl by Hope Jahren – what a life in science is really like". The Guardian.
  11. "THE LIFE PROJECT: BRITAIN'S BIRTH-COHORT STUDIES ARE THE ENVY OF THE SCIENTIFIC WORLD - BUT WILL THEY SURVIVE IN THE 21ST CENTURY?". The Independent.
  12. "Helen Pearson on a Unique Study of Thousands of British Lives". Edinburgh International Book Festival.
  13. "HELEN PEARSON ON THE LIFE PROJECT". The RSA.
  14. "The Life Project: the extraordinary story of 70,000 ordinary lives". YouTube.
  15. "Author meets her cover girl". Mid-Devon Advertiser.
  16. "The British Society for the History of Science" (PDF). The British Society for the History of Science.
  17. "Nature or Nurture?". BBC.
  18. Career Options for Biomedical Scientists. Cold Spring Harbour Press. 2015. ISBN 978-1-936113-72-9.
  19. "Lessons from the longest study on human development". TED talks.
  20. "Robin McKie's best science books of 2016". The Guardian.
  21. "Books of the Year 2016". The Economist.
  22. "ANNOUNCING THE 2017 ORWELL PRIZE LONGLISTS". Orwellfoundation.com.
  23. "Mr Brown's joys — the 2016 MJA Awards winners". Medical Journalists' Association.
  24. "Children of the 90s: Coming of age". Nature. 2012.
  25. "Best feature Winner: Helen Pearson". Association of British Science Writers.
  26. "The Study of a Lifetime" (PDF). Nature.
  27. "Absw Awards". Association of British Science Writers.
  28. "ONE GENE, TWENTY YEARS" (PDF). Nature.
  29. "Nature Magazine Chief Features Editor Wins 2010 Wistar Institute Science Journalism Award". Newswise.
  30. "The lab that knows where your time really goes". Nature.
  31. "Prehistoric proteins: Raising the dead". Nature.com. 2012.
  32. "Protein engineering: The fate of fingers". Nature.
  33. "At-Home DNA Tests Are Here, But Doctors Aren't Celebrating". Wall Street Journal.
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