Don Finley

Don Finley has been writing about health care and science for three decades. He is currently director of external communications at University Health System, a large academic, research and safety net health system in San Antonio, Texas. Prior to that, he wrote and edited medical news for the San Antonio Express-News. His awards include the American Diabetes Association’s top reporting prize, as well as the Award for Excellence in International Health Reporting from the Pan American Health Association, the World Health Organization’s arm in the Americas. In 2001, he was awarded a yearlong fellowship from the Kaiser Family Health Foundation to report on the global problem of obesity and diabetes, research that has taken him as far as Japan and the remote Pacific island of Tonga. His book, Mad Dogs (1998, Texas A&M University Press), about rabies in wildlife and the development of an oral rabies vaccine, was praised by critics both for its narrative (“a gripping and informative book,” Library Journal), as well as its scientific accuracy (“a fascinating, detailed, balanced history of rabies in wild animals,” Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association). In 2002, he was awarded a non-journalism prize, the Texas Public Health Association’s President’s Award, for advancing public health through his reporting. Finley earned his bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Texas at San Antonio. He resides with his wife, an editorial writer and columnist at the Express-News, and daughter.