Alissa Poh
Alissa Poh (editorial intern for Summer 2007) expected to become a biomedical researcher so she could DO science, but she developed a passion for writing ABOUT science. She completed a master's degree in Dartmouth Medical School's Pharmacology and Toxicology program and did her thesis research--on cancer cells and their resistance mechanisms to cell cycle checkpoint inhibitors--in the lab of Alan Eastman, Ph.D, at the Norris Cotton Cancer Center. Then she went on to journalism school at one of the nation's highly regarded science-writing programs--at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Now she's a contract science writer at Cambridge Healthtech Institute's BIO-IT WORLD magazine in Massachusetts.
Alissa was born and raised in Malaysia and has a B.Sc. in biochemistry from the University of Bristol in England. She is driven to learn about many areas of science and wants to communicate that knowledge to other people. "I have always loved language and wordplay," she says. "The idea of stepping into a scientist's world of discovery . . . while piecing the information . . . into a coherent story that bridges the 'science jargon gulf' so nonscientists may share my experience . . . is intensely appealing."
Alissa can be reached by e-mail alissa.poh@gmail.com.