About

Sharon Begley (1956-2021) was the senior science writer at STAT, the life sciences publication of the Boston Globe, when she died in January 2021.

Earlier in her career Sharon was the senior health & science correspondent at Reuters (2012-2015), the science editor and science columnist at Newsweek (2007 to 2011), science columnist at The Wall Street Journal (2002 to 2007), and science editor of Newsweek (1981-2002). She began as a researcher at Newsweek in 1977. She obtained a BA degree in combined sciences from Yale University in 1977.

She is the author of the 2017 book Can't Just Stop: An Investigation of Compulsions; co-author (with Richard J. Davidson) of the 2012 book The Emotional Life of Your Brain; author of the 2007 book Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain; and co-author (with Jeffrey Schwartz) of the 2002 book The Mind and the Brain.

Sharon received numerous awards for her writing, including an honorary degree from the University of North Carolina at Asheville for communicating science to the public, the Public Understanding of Science Award from the San Francisco Exploratorium, the Victor Cohn prize (2017), and the Kavli Award for science journalism/online category from the American Association for Advancement of Science (2019). She spoke before many audiences about science writing, neuroplasticity, and science literacy, including at Yale University, the Society for Neuroscience, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the National Academy of Sciences.