Senior science writer Krista Conger, PhD ’99, covers cancer, stem cells, dermatology, developmental biology, endocrinology, pathology, hematology, radiation oncology and LGBTQ+ issues for the office. She received her undergraduate degree in biochemistry at the University of California, Berkeley and her PhD in cancer biology from Stanford University. After completing the science writing program at UC Santa Cruz, she joined the Stanford Medicine Office of Communications in 2000. She enjoys distilling complicated scientific topics into engaging prose accessible to the layperson. Over the years, she has had chronicled nascent scientific discoveries from their inception to Food and Drug Administration approval and routine clinical use — documenting the wonder and long arc of medical research. Her writing has repeatedly been recognized with awards from the Counsel for the Advancement and Support of Education and the Association of American Medical Colleges. She is a member of the National Academy of Science Writers and a certified science editor through the Board of Editors in the Life Sciences. In her spare time, she enjoys textile arts, experimenting with new recipes and hiking in beautiful northwestern Montana, where she was raised and now lives.