• Blog posts and web content - Contributing writer at ReadWrite; Ghostwritten roughly 150 instructional articles for a popular US-based website
• Clinical research - Thorough knowledge of trials and studies with hands-on clinical experience as a research assistant at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Topics of expertise include HIV/AIDS, general immune disorders, opportunistic infections, ocular immunology, and general ophthalmology
• Molecular biology - BA in Biology from New York University, 2009; Funded graduate research and study through The University of Texas at Austin's Microbiology program, 2013-2015; Graduate research focused on pathogenic bacteriology
• Grant writing - Secured $100k in federal funding through the Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP) as a junior grant writer last year; Wrote a few NIH-style practice grants during graduate studies
• Aquaria - Dwarf shrimp care and selective breeding; Planted tanks; Aquascaping; Freshwater invertebrates
• Pets - Veterinary medicine; Animal rescue; Animal psychology; Small mammal breeding and care
• Psychology - Cognitive psychology; Behavioral genetics; Autism; Mental health care accessibility
• Sequential art - Comics history; Webcomics; Indie comics
• Gaming - Role-playing games; First-person shooters; Indie video games; Tabletop games
Patricia earned a BA from New York University in 2009. She majored in Biology with a literature-focused minor in German.
Completed two years as a PhD student before leaving to pursue a career in writing.
Patricia gained over five years of professional experience in life science research before pursuing a full-time writing career. As a research assistant and technologist, she assisted in both hands-on research and the drafting and editing of written materials. While working as a researcher, she also obtained the background knowledge necessary to contribute to future projects within a wide variety of medical topics. Her specific areas of expertise include:
• Disease-associated biofilms - Worked as a graduate research assistant at the University of Texas at Austin; Focused on bacterial infections of the lung, the oral cavity, and chronic wounds; Relevant predisposing conditions included diabetes, cystic fibrosis, and HIV/AIDS
• Uveitis - Assisted in clinical research at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine with direct patient contact; Major projects included a treatment trial for noninfectious/autoimmune uveitis and a longitudinal study of AIDS-related eye disease
• Retinal disorders - Worked as a technologist in translational research (also at JHU) evaluating potential treatments for diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, and retinopathy of prematurity
• Genetic toxicology - Performed an FDA-required biological assay screening newly developed drugs and medical devices for potential carcinogens
Since switching careers, she has continued working in the field as an academic manuscript editor and grant writer.
Patricia recently started work as a contributing writer for the tech website Readwrite. There, she has produced brief SEO-optimized blog posts on various Internet of Things topics. While she has thus far created only a handful of articles, she has enjoyed this foray into digital journalism and hopes to find other similar projects.
Patricia's first professional writing experience was as a grant writer for her former graduate advisor. Although budget constraints made her tenure in this position brief, she secured $100,000 in federal funding through the US DoD's Defense University Research Instrumentation Program.
Since then, she has worked as a freelance grant writer and editor.