JAMA
I came up with the hypothesis that pediatric GERD can be inherited. We put together a team to study our families and mapped a gene. I’m listed as an author, but I didn’t do any of the writing. Red outlines show you the most relevant portions.
Book
The Reflux Book, A Parent’s Guide to Gastroesopheal Reflux is 288 pages and written on a 10th grade reading level.
This book contains everything a parent might need to know about their child’s reflux. Everything. But the sentences are simple and the most complex ideas are explained in the simplest terms.
it is available in paperback and ebook form from Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Reflux-Book-Parents-Guide-Gastroesophageal-ebook/dp/B003TXT420
Sample Chapter
Fact Sheet
Tip Sheet for La Leche League
La Leche League produces tip sheets (“tear sheets”) on specific topics related to breastfeeding. As the director of the Pediatric Adolescent Gastroesophageal Reflux Association, I am a subject matter expert on pediatric reflux.
I produced the text and commissioned the illustration. I did not design this layout.
Peer-reviewed medical journal article.
I wrote this article for Practical Gastroenterology after learning that a psychiatric medicine with dangerous side effects was often being prescribed by gastroenterologists.
The peer reviewers were impressed that somebody finally made this baffling topic easy to understand. They also expressed surprise that I don’t have an MD or PhD.
Neighborhood newsletter -Insulating an Old House with Modern Spray Insuluation
My neighborhood was built in the 1930s. The houses were not insulated. Several houses had been completely demolished by small fires that spread very quickly due to an old building technique called “balloon framing.”
Summarizing complex medical journal articles for pediatricians and allied health practitioners.
This is NOT the summary. This is an article I was given to summarize. Do you know what Proteomics is? I didn’t when I got this. After 3 minutes on Wikipedia it took me hours just to read this. But only a few hours to summarize it.
The summary is the next image.
Summary of above
This is the single-page summary. My audience was pediatricians. The assignment included stating why the research is a new area of investigation.
This summary is written at grade 13 reading level. (College Freshman.)
Magazine-style articles
Digestive Wellness – USA Today (Pull-Out Section)
I wrote the lead article, “Digestive Wellness Means Overall Wellness.” I also worked with the editor to find other authors.
Summarizing complex medical journal article
I read this article by Ronnie Guillet. I recognized that the information was useful but it was too complex for the most important audiences – pediatricians and nurses. I asked if I could simplify it so it could be published for new audiences. Dr. G. was thrilled.
See below for the summary
Summary of article above
I only have the first page. This appeared in Neonatal Network, a medical journal aimed at neonatology practitioners.
Newsletter
This is a sample of a quarterly newsletter I wrote and edited for 20 years.
It contained guest articles I requested from professionals, research updates, stories from parents and more.
Fact Sheet
Foods that aggravate reflux. This is translated to Spanish.
Newspaper
This is a “canned” newspaper story used by small papers as useful filler. The English and Spanish versions were picked up by hundreds of newspapers.
Fact sheet
This is a web fact sheet.
Letter to Doctors
A humorous letter to doctors encouraging them to help recruit families for the search for a GERD gene. It appeared in the Reflux Digest Newsletter and parents also sent copies to their pediatricians. It was also attached to questionnaires.
The researchers received 80% of the questionnaires back. A normal response for a genetic study is under 10%. Team members were astonished and overwhelmed.
Nursing Spectrum
I ghost-wrote this article and the headers were changed by the editor.
Sorry about the quality of the image. We never got a digital copy.
Yes, this is an actual photo of my baby after she coded at 12 hours-old.
Analytical Presentation to NIH: What we don’t know about Pediatric GERD far exceeds what we do know. (2004)
This is a crude sketch using crude software. The heavy outline around the word DOSING shows that significant effort is being put into this avenue of research.
There are a few other boxes with medium weight outlines that show some research progress. The other boxes illustrate what we have not yet begun to research.
