About Dave

MECHANICSVILLE, Va.—I am a journalist, author, and geographer (specifically a biogeographer). My first book, Upheaval from the Abyss, was published by Rutgers University Press in 2002. My second book, Huntington’s Disease, was published by Chelsea House in 2009. My writing has appeared in publications ranging from the books The Science of Dune and The Science of Michael Crichton (both published by BenBella Books in 2008); magazines such as The Lancet, The Lancet Infectious Diseases, Geotimes, Mercator’s World, Vegetarian Times and Woods Hole Currents; the radio programs Our Ocean World and MicrobeWorld; the news service Agence France-Presse; newspapers such as The (Petersburg, Va.) Progress-Index; the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch; and The (Shreveport, La.) Times; and academic publications, including Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America, Encyclopedia of the Developing World, Encyclopedia of Genetics, Magill’s Encyclopedia of Science: Plant Life, Magill’s Medical Guide, and the Virginia Journal of Science.

Currently, I live two not-entirely compatible professional lives. First, I am a Ph.D. candidate in Media, Art, and Text at Virginia Commonwealth University. I am currently doing the research for my dissertation project, entitled “Last Call for Corals: Life, Death, and Conservation of an Ocean Ecosystem.” Second, I am sports editor of the Mechanicsville Local, a weekly newspaper in Hanover County, Va. Both lives tend to be all-consuming, which makes it a challenge to be good at one, much less both.