Amy Maxmen

Amy Maxmen (born 1978) is an American science journalist who writes about evolution, medicine, science policy and scientists. She was awarded the Victor Cohn Prize for Excellence in Medical Science Reporting for her coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic, and other awards for her reporting on Ebola and malaria.

Amy Maxmen
Maxmen speaks about the One World Media nomination of her work, "The next chapter for African genomics", in 2021
Born1978 (age 44–45)
Academic background
Alma materHarvard University
ThesisPycnogonid development and the evolution of the arthropod body plan (2006)
WebsiteAmy Maxmen

Early life and education

Maxmen was an undergraduate student at the University of California, Berkeley, where she majored in biology and English. She moved to the East Coast of the United States for graduate studies, where she received a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from Harvard University.[1] Her doctoral research, published in the journal Nature, suggested that sea spiders belong to an early lineage of arthropods and that their claws may be similar to the 'great appendages' seen in fossils dating back to the Cambrian explosion.[2]

Research and career

Maxmen is a popular science journalist. She has been a reporter at Science News and Nature and an editor at Nautilus Quarterly. Her articles have also appeared in publications including the New York Times and National Geographic. She writes about issues related to evolutionary biology, health technology, science policy and medicine. In 2015, Maxmen wrote about the origins of humanity.[3] The article, which featured in Nautilus Quarterly, was part of "The Best American Science and Nature Writing" in 2015.[4] During Ebola virus epidemics, Maxmen reported from Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[5]

Maxmen was part of the 2020 cohort of the Knight Science Journalism fellows at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology[6] and a 2022-2023 press fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.[7] Maxmen has been regularly featured on the Nature podcast, the CoronaPod.[8]

Awards and honors
  • 2016 Science in Society Journalism Award[9] for her National Geographic article on how Ebola tested traditions [10]
  • 2016 Bricker Award for Science Writing in Medicine[11]
  • 2018 First place in public health from the Association of Health Care Journalists Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism[12] for her Nature feature on the spread of drug-resistant malaria in southeast Asia[13]
  • 2019 AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Award, Magazine Gold;[14] First place award for excellence in the trade category from the Association of Health Care Journalists;[15] and the 2020 Communications Award from the American Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene[16] for her Nature feature on how the World Health Organization battled Ebola in northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo[17]
  • 2021 Victor Cohn Prize for Excellence in Medical Science Reporting, shared with Helen Branswell[18]
  • 2022 Feature of the Year, specialist category, from the Medical Journalists' Association;[19] 2022 Honorable mention from the NIHCM Foundation Awards in trade journalism;[20] and 2021 Communications Award from the American Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene [21] for her Nature feature on the toll of inequality in the Covid pandemic among agriculture workers in the United States.[22]

Selected publications

Scientific research
  • Amy Maxmen; William E. Browne; Mark Q Martindale; Gonzalo Giribet (1 October 2005). "Neuroanatomy of sea spiders implies an appendicular origin of the protocerebral segment". Nature. 437 (7062): 1144–1148. doi:10.1038/NATURE03984. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 16237442. Wikidata Q34461278.

Science writing

References
  1. Maxmen, Amy (2006). Pycnogonid development and the evolution of the arthropod body plan (Thesis). OCLC 230879147.
  2. Amy Maxmen; William E. Browne; Mark Q Martindale; Gonzalo Giribet (1 October 2005). "Neuroanatomy of sea spiders implies an appendicular origin of the protocerebral segment". Nature. 437 (7062): 1144–1148. doi:10.1038/NATURE03984. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 16237442. Wikidata Q34461278.
  3. Maxmen, Amy (2014-09-25). "Digging Through the World's Oldest Graveyard". Nautilus. Retrieved 2021-09-30.
  4. Skloot, Rebecca (2015). The best American science and nature writing, 2015. ISBN 978-0-544-28675-7. OCLC 907292623.
  5. "AAAS Kavli Winners Reflect on Covid-19 and Public Health Reporting | American Association for the Advancement of Science". www.aaas.org. Retrieved 2021-09-30.
  6. "Amy Maxmen". Knight Science Journalism @MIT. Retrieved 2021-09-30.
  7. "Amy Maxmen at the Council on Foreign Relations". CFR. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  8. "Podcasts | Nature". www.nature.com. Retrieved 2021-09-30.
  9. "2016 Science in Society Journalism Award winners". nasw.org. 2016-09-13. Archived from the original on 2021-06-07. Retrieved 2021-10-02.
  10. Maxmen, Amy (January 30, 2015). "How the Fight Against Ebola Tested a Culture's Traditions". National Geographic. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  11. "Awardees". Bricker Award. Retrieved 2021-09-30.
  12. "Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism: 2018 winners". AHCJ. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  13. Maxmen, Amy (July 2018). "Malaria's ticking time bomb". Nature. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  14. "2020 Magazine - Gold". AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Awards. 2020-11-09. Retrieved 2021-09-30.
  15. "Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism: 2019 winners". AHCJ. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  16. "ASTMH - Communications Award". www.astmh.org. Retrieved 2021-09-30.
  17. Maxmen, Amy (September 11, 2019). "Exclusive: Behind the front lines of the Ebola wars". Nature. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  18. "Helen Branswell and Amy Maxmen share 2021 Victor Cohn Prize". CASW. 2021-08-05. Retrieved 2021-09-30.
  19. "Medical Journalists' Association Awards 2022". MJA. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  20. "2022 NIHCM Trade Journalism Award Winners". NIHCM. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  21. "ASTMH - Communications Award". www.astmh.org. Retrieved 2021-09-30.
  22. Maxmen, Amy (April 18, 2021). "Inequality's deadly toll: A century of research has demonstrated how poverty and discrimination drive disease. Can Covid push science to finally address the issue?". Retrieved 29 December 2022.
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