Alison Bass

Visiting Senior Lecturer in English

Specialization
Multimedia Journalism; Health and Science Journalism; Non-fiction writing; Investigative Journalism

Alison Bass is an award-winning journalist and author of Side Effects: A Prosecutor, a Whistleblower and a Bestselling Antidepressant on Trial (Algonquin Books), a literary nonfiction narrative that draws on Bass’ skills as an investigative reporter and veteran medical writer.  As one reviewer noted, “Side Effects reads like a John Grisham thriller, but it teaches you everything you need to know about how some drug companies have used their marketing and legal muscle to lie about science.” The book was a winner of the 2009 Science in Society Journalism Awards, sponsored by the National Association of Science Writers. For more than a decade, Bass was a staff writer for The Boston Globe, covering medicine, science, mental health, technology and features. Her articles and essays have also appeared in The Chicago Tribune, The Miami Herald, The Village Voice, Psychology Today, Technology Review and other newspapers and magazines around the country. A series she wrote for The Boston Globe on psychiatry was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in the Public Service category, and she has received a number of other journalism awards for her work, including the Top Media Award from the National Mental Health Association. In 2007, she won a prestigious Alicia Patterson Fellowship for her book project. For more information on Side Effects, please visit her Web site.