I'm a freelance writer and editor and was selected for the 2010 National Health Journalism Fellowship program. I'm also a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Justice and Journalism (IJJ) and an adjunct faculty member at USC Annenberg. I was an L.A. Times editor for 30 years. As onetime environment editor, I directed coverage ranging from the health effects of air pollution, pesticides and lead in water to radon and cancer clusters. 

I was co-editor and a writer on a Times series, "Latinos in Southern California," that won the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. I was founding editor of Nuestro Tiempo, the Times' English-Spanish section, in which we paid a great deal of attention to health issues concerning Latinos.

I've been active in efforts to increase diversity in the news media. I was a co-founder of the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, the California Chicano News Media Association and NAHJ. Publications include "Para los Niños, Improving Education for Mexican Americans" and co-editing "Frank del Olmo: Commentaries on His Times."

I majored in journalism at the University of Arizona, got a master's in communication from Stanford and studied at Harvard as a Nieman Fellow. I also worked at the Arizona Daily Star, Philadelphia Inquirer and Pacific Stars and Stripes.