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My side hustle

My side hustle

If genetics is my business, virology is my side hustle.

I double majored in biology – with a focus on genetics – and journalism in undergraduate. I fell hard for genetics in those early days. The Human Genome Project was just wrapping up, and we were still learning so much. The fact that two decades later we finished decoding the last the human genome was but a fanciful dream back then. I sat in my genetics courses with only one other science journalism student sucking the marrow out of every lesson.

My second passion quickly became viruses by way of a bacteria I had fallen for years before: e. coli 0157:H7, a nasty little bug with a viral insertion that created an intestinally distressing toxin. Viruses are really nothing more than genetic material (RNA or DNA) inside a protein shell, and that fascinated me. While I only took a few microbiology courses in between my undergraduate and nursing degrees, I loved reading study after study, journal article after journal article and book after book on the tiny germs in my spare time. Once a person understands the genetics, it’s not hard to understand viruses and how they work.

When the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic struck in 2020, I was still sidelined by my own health. But I immediately found myself fascinated by the discussions between virologists versus immunologists versus public health experts versus others.

Now that I’m attempting to return to journalism, I’m bringing with me both my primary passion for genetics and my secondary love for virology. I hope to put it to good use.

Get a job

Get a job

Former journalist seeks return to the newsroom.

Current reporter returns to the newsroom after five-year hiatus.

Health reporter nearly lost career to health issues.

I keep writing and re-writing headlines to my own story in my head – no doubt because I’ve been writing a lot of cover letters lately.

Am I a “former reporter” returning to the news business? Am I a current reporter who has just had five years off because of my health and disability? Will anyone even hire someone who hasn’t had a single new clip to slip in the portfolio in five years? Does any editor want a health reporter whose body comes with its very own self-destruct button embedded in the genetic code?

Am I just a neurotic Gen-X reporter who worries endlessly and that’s why I always loved the distraction of a good deadline and a strong cup of coffee? Even I know the answer to this question: a resounding “Yes!”

I’ve been applying for remote jobs with an emphasis on being able to work in or around Boston, Mass., for about a month, while at the same time, looking for freelance work if I can’t find a fulltime remote newsroom health gig. It’s all a little terrifying to be starting over more than two decades after I started my career, but I’m doing it because health reporting is a calling. And I hear the clarion call to come back and cover all that is going on in the world – from pandemics and spreading diseases to new medical and biotech discoveries – loud and clear.