Amy Maxmen

Maxmen was an undergraduate student at the University of California, Berkeley, where she majored in biology and English. She moved to the East Coast of the United States for graduate studies, where she received a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from Harvard University.{{cite thesis |last1=Maxmen |first1=Amy |title=Pycnogonid development and the evolution of the arthropod body plan |date=2006 |oclc=230879147 }} Her doctoral research, published in the journal Nature, suggested that sea spiders belong to an early lineage of arthropods and that their claws may be similar to the 'great appendages' seen in fossils dating back to the Cambrian explosion.{{Cite Q|Q34461278}}

Maxmen is a popular science journalist. She has been a reporter at Science News and Nature and an editor at Nautilus Quarterly. Her articles have also appeared in publications including the New York Times and National Geographic. She writes about issues related to evolutionary biology, health technology, science policy and medicine. In 2015, Maxmen wrote about the origins of humanity.{{Cite web|last=Maxmen|first=Amy|date=2014-09-25|title=Digging Through the World's Oldest Graveyard|url=http://nautil.us/issue/17/big-bangs/digging-through-the-worlds-oldest-graveyard|access-date=2021-09-30|website=Nautilus}} The article, which featured in Nautilus Quarterly, was part of "The Best American Science and Nature Writing" in 2015.{{cite book |last1=Skloot |first1=Rebecca |title=The best American science and nature writing, 2015 |date=2015 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |isbn=978-0-544-28675-7 |oclc=907292623 }}{{page needed|date=November 2021}} During Ebola virus epidemics, Maxmen reported from Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.{{Cite web|title=AAAS Kavli Winners Reflect on Covid-19 and Public Health Reporting {{!}} American Association for the Advancement of Science|url=https://www.aaas.org/news/aaas-kavli-winners-reflect-covid-19-and-public-health-reporting|access-date=2021-09-30|website=www.aaas.org|language=en}}

Maxmen was part of the 2020 cohort of the Knight Science Journalism fellows at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology{{Cite web|title=Amy Maxmen|url=https://ksj.mit.edu/alumni/amy-maxmen/|access-date=2021-09-30|website=Knight Science Journalism @MIT|language=en-US}} and a 2022-2023 press fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.{{cite web |title=Amy Maxmen at the Council on Foreign Relations |url=https://www.cfr.org/expert/amy-maxmen |website=CFR |access-date=29 December 2022}} Maxmen has been regularly featured on the Nature podcast, the CoronaPod.{{Cite web|title=Podcasts {{!}} Nature|url=https://www.nature.com/nature/articles?type=nature-podcast|access-date=2021-09-30|website=www.nature.com|language=en}}

• 2016 Science in Society Journalism Award{{cite web | date = 2016-09-13 | title = 2016 Science in Society Journalism Award winners | website = nasw.org | url = https://www.nasw.org/article/2016-science-society-journalism-award-winners | access-date = 2021-10-02 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210607094908/https://www.nasw.org/article/2016-science-society-journalism-award-winners | archive-date = 2021-06-07 | url-status = live }} for her National Geographic article on how Ebola tested traditions {{cite news |last1=Maxmen |first1=Amy |title=How the Fight Against Ebola Tested a Culture's Traditions |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/150130-ebola-virus-outbreak-epidemic-sierra-leone-funerals-1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308231136/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/150130-ebola-virus-outbreak-epidemic-sierra-leone-funerals-1 |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 8, 2021 |access-date=29 December 2022 |publisher=National Geographic |date=January 30, 2015}}
• 2016 Bricker Award for Science Writing in Medicine{{Cite web|title=Awardees|url=https://brickeraward.org/awardees/|access-date=2021-09-30|website=Bricker Award|language=en-US}}
• 2018 First place in public health from the Association of Health Care Journalists Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism{{cite web |title=Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism: 2018 winners |url=https://healthjournalism.org/awards-winners.php?Year=2018#cat-41 |website=AHCJ |access-date=29 December 2022}} for her Nature feature on the spread of drug-resistant malaria in southeast Asia{{cite news |last1=Maxmen |first1=Amy |title=Malaria's ticking time bomb |url=https://www.nature.com/immersive/d41586-018-05772-z/index.html |access-date=29 December 2022 |publisher=Nature |date=July 2018}}
• 2019 AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Award, Magazine Gold;{{Cite web|date=2020-11-09|title=2020 Magazine - Gold|url=https://sjawards.aaas.org/awards/2020-magazine-gold|access-date=2021-09-30|website=AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Awards|language=en}} First place award for excellence in the trade category from the Association of Health Care Journalists;{{cite web |title=Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism: 2019 winners |url=https://healthjournalism.org/about-news-detail.php?id=296#.Y6zCQuzML0o |website=AHCJ |access-date=29 December 2022}} and the 2020 Communications Award from the American Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene{{Cite web|title=ASTMH - Communications Award|url=https://www.astmh.org/awards-fellowships-medals/awards-and-honors/communications-award|access-date=2021-09-30|website=www.astmh.org}} for her Nature feature on how the World Health Organization battled Ebola in northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo{{cite news |last1=Maxmen |first1=Amy |title=Exclusive: Behind the front lines of the Ebola wars |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02673-7 |access-date=29 December 2022 |publisher=Nature |date=September 11, 2019}}
• 2021 Victor Cohn Prize for Excellence in Medical Science Reporting, shared with Helen Branswell{{Cite web|date=2021-08-05|title=Helen Branswell and Amy Maxmen share 2021 Victor Cohn Prize|url=https://casw.org/news/branswell-and-maxmen-share-2021-victor-cohn-prize/|access-date=2021-09-30|website=CASW}}
• 2022 Feature of the Year, specialist category, from the Medical Journalists' Association;{{cite web |title=Medical Journalists' Association Awards 2022 |url=https://mjauk.org/2022/09/15/mja-awards-2022-meet-the-winners/ |website=MJA |access-date=29 December 2022}} 2022 Honorable mention from the NIHCM Foundation Awards in trade journalism;{{cite web |title=2022 NIHCM Trade Journalism Award Winners |url=https://nihcm.org/awards/trade-journalism/winners |website=NIHCM |access-date=29 December 2022}} and 2021 Communications Award from the American Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene {{Cite web|title=ASTMH - Communications Award|url=https://www.astmh.org/awards-fellowships-medals/awards-and-honors/communications-award|access-date=2021-09-30|website=www.astmh.org}} for her Nature feature on the toll of inequality in the Covid pandemic among agriculture workers in the United States.{{cite news |last1=Maxmen |first1=Amy |title=Inequality's deadly toll: A century of research has demonstrated how poverty and discrimination drive disease. Can Covid push science to finally address the issue? |url=https://www.nature.com/immersive/d41586-021-00943-x/index.html |access-date=29 December 2022 |date=April 18, 2021}}

• Amy Maxmen has faced criticism for alleged bias and inaccuracies in her COVID-19 reporting{{Cite web|title=The Many Fictions of Nature Magazine’s Amy Maxmen |url=https://disinformationchronicle.substack.com/p/the-many-fictions-of-nature-magazines|access-date=2025-02-18|website=disinformationchronicle.substack.com}}

• {{Cite Q|Q34461278}}

• {{Cite Q|Q51550446}}
• {{cite journal | last1 = Maxmen | first1 = Amy | author1-link = Amy Maxmen

| others = Pete Muller (photogr.)

| date = January 2015 | title = How the Fight Against Ebola Tested a Culture's Traditions

| journal = National Geographic

| url = https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/150130-ebola-virus-outbreak-epidemic-sierra-leone-funerals-1

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210308231136/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/150130-ebola-virus-outbreak-epidemic-sierra-leone-funerals-1

| url-status = dead

| archive-date = March 8, 2021

| access-date = 2021-10-02

}}

• {{Cite Q|Q95933952}}

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• {{Official website|http://www.amymaxmen.com/}}
• {{C-SPAN|101397}}

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Category:Living people

Category:1978 births

Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni

Category:Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni

Category:American science writers