ALISON MCCOOK
MY CV
Professional Experience
2002 - present
WRITING, EDITING
Write/edit articles and opinions for a general and professional audience. Publications include the Philadelphia Inquirer, Reuters, Discover, Scientific American, Science, Nature, and Knowable Magazine.
2021-2025
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER -- OPINION WRITER/EDITOR, HEALTH JOURNALIST
Wrote and edited OpEds for the Inquirer, including direction the Sunday Opinion section. I also did a stint on the health desk, reporting and writing health and science stories in a city where 20% of residents work in healthcare.
2020-2022
KNOWABLE MAGAZINE -- COMMENTARY EDITOR
Commissioned and edited opinions about COVID’s effect on society. Articles covered public policy, the future of work, and COVID’s toll on underserved communities such as the homeless. Knowable’s content is free to share, so I placed articles in the Philadelphia Inquirer, the New York Daily News, Newsweek, and The Conversation, among others.
2015-2018
RETRACTION WATCH -- EDITOR
Oversaw all editorial content, including articles published in other outlets. Articles consisted of expert opinions, news and features by journalists, and investigative reporting about academic publishing and misconduct.
2011-2013
NATURE -- COMMENT AND FEATURES EDITOR
Commissioned and edited opinion pieces by experts, as well as feature articles by journalists.
2005-2010
THE SCIENTIST -- DEPUTY EDITOR
As Deputy Editor: Oversaw all editorial content (online and in print), and managed $750,000 editorial budget. Supervised the entire process, including the selection of ideas and images, production, and printing the issue.
Achievements:
While Deputy Editor, the number of annual visits to the website increased by nearly 60 percent, and the number of page-views by nearly 50 percent.
In my last year as Deputy Editor, the magazine became profitable for the first time in its 25-year history.
In 2008 and 2009, the magazine won consecutive "Magazine of the Year" awards, across all categories, from the American Society of Business Publication Editors, the trade press association.
In 2010, the publication won best business-to-business science magazine (for the 5th consecutive year) from FOLIO, the association of magazine publishing. In 2009, we also earned the best single science article (which I wrote).
2001-2005
REUTERS -- HEALTH JOURNALIST
Reported and wrote a daily average of four stories about health and medicine. I continued as a freelancer, eventually writing 2,000+ articles.