ROBERT FINN

2224 Lisa Lane
Pleasant Hill, CA 94523
925-685-6993
finn (at) nasw (dot) org
http://www.bobfinn.net
Twitter: @bobfinn
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/bobfinnsciencewriter/


WORK EXPERIENCE

Medscape Medical News, a Division of WebMD
2011-present Assignment Editor

• Managed a team of 30 freelance medical journalists and editors and an annual budget of $200,000 for the largest and most popular web site for healthcare professionals.
• Identified 25-30 news stories weekly in a variety of medical specialties, assigned them to freelance journalists, edited the stories, and prepared them for posting.
• Managed multiple daily deadlines.
• Posted engaging medical news on 33 Twitter and 7 Facebook accounts. Served as a member of Medscape’s “Social Media SWAT Team.” Currently have 3,600 followers at my personal Twitter account

International Medical News Group, Rockville, Maryland
2001 - 2011 San Francisco Bureau Chief

• Reported on a wide variety of medical meetings for an audience of specialty physicians, meeting frequent daily deadlines and managing multiple simultaneous projects, including news articles, feature stories, columns, and editorials.
• Provided leadership in company's transition from print journalism to multimedia, new media, and Web 2.0-based offerings, including blogs, podcasts, and video.
• Anchored, narrated, and edited audio and video news segments, including live interviews with prominent physicians and researchers.
• Engaged readers using social media such as Facebook and Twitter. Gained more than 1,000 Twitter followers using a number of strategies, including live-tweeting medical meetings.

California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California
1985 - 1992
Senior Science Writer

• Served as spokesman for Caltech on matters ranging from gifts and grants to earthquakes and scientific advances.
• Wrote press releases, organized press conferences, maintained extensive contacts with local and national media, and answered inquiries from the press and the public on a wide variety of issues.
• Helped supervise a full-time assistant and a number of part-time, temporary, and work-study employees.

Freelance Science and Medical Writer and Editor
1980 - Present

• Wrote feature articles, news stories, and reviews for The Los Angeles Times, Discover, Nature, The Scientist, Men's Fitness, Technology Review and other magazines and newspapers.
• Provided public-relations consultation services for hospitals, schools, non-profit organizations, and small high-technology companies with clients including the Bienvenidos Children's Center, the Anxiety Disorders Association of America, and the University of Redlands.
• Managed newsrooms for scientific meetings.
• Interviewed more than 1,000 scientists, physicians and researchers.
• Developed numerous contacts nationwide in the news media and the scientific community.
• Edited, indexed, and wrote highly technical scientific material and also material intended for the lay public.
• Familiar with many word processing programs and computer systems.
• Experienced in using photo-editing, video-editing, and sound-editing software.
• Highly accomplished at conducting online research.
• Served as webmaster for the National Association of Science Writers.

Beckman Instruments, Fullerton, California
1980 - 1984
Applications Training Specialist

• Wrote and edited instructional materials and designed and taught classes on scientific and medical instrumentation.

SKILLS

• Researching, writing, and editing news and feature articles.
• Interviewing physicians, scientists, politicians, and patients.
• Audio and video editing.
• Writing blogs and video and audio scripts.

EDUCATION

University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, 1972 - 1977
A.B. in Biological Sciences

University of California, Irvine, California, 1977 - 1980
M.S. in Neuroscience; Worked with Gary Lynch and Carl Cotman; Neuroanatomy and hippocampal slice physiology

PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

• National Association of Science Writers (currently serving fourth term as an elected member of the Board of Directors)
• Association of Health Care Journalists
• Northern California Science Writers Association
• Online News Association

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

• Half Moon Bay (Calif.) Bicycle Commission
• Pleasant Hill (Calif.) Shopping Center Task Force
• Pleasant Hill (Calif.) Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Steering Committee
• Pleasant Hill Cohousing Homeowners Association Executive Committee (elected for 2 terms)

AWARDS AND HONORS

• 2007 Samter Journalism Award from the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology.

PUBLICATIONS

Two books:

• Cancer Clinical Trials: Experimental Treatments and How They Can Help You, O'Reilly & Associates, 1999.
• Organ Transplants: Making the Most of Your Gift of Life, O'Reilly & Associates, 2000.

Plus literally thousands of news and feature articles for newspapers and magazines.