Roberta Friedman graduated summa cum laude from the University of Rochester and earned a PhD in pharmacology at Vanderbilt University. Her thesis research on the serotonin system was conducted just before the field realized its present cachet with the blockbuster Prozac (fluoxetine) and the newer migraine treatments. While compiling her thesis, she realized she much preferred writing about research to carrying it out, especially as the advent of the personal computer was allowing her to bypass her lousy typing skills.
After a degree in science communication from University of California, Santa Cruz, and internships at NASA Ames, the Santa Cruz Sentinel, and Stanford University's news bureau, she freelanced for several years. She then spent a nine-year stint with the biotechnology trade newsletters BioWorld and BioCentury; the former was available online by modem before there was an Internet.
Roberta's work from her home in Santa Cruz, Calif., over the past 15 years has covered endangered pelicans and otters, invading eucalyptus trees and overcrowded anchovies, as well as the latest clinical trials. Her byline has appeared in popular magazines such as Psychology Today and Longevity and in the San Francisco Examiner. She has written on science for children as well as adults.