Thanks for Nothing

This profile of Specialist Jon Town set off a firestorm when it was published April 2007. 

While serving in Ramadi, Iraq, Town was knocked unconscious by a 107-milimeter rocket.  Though the blast left him with significant hearing loss, he was denied disability benefits after the Army claimed his symptoms came from a pre-existing personality disorder.

The article spurred 31 senators to call for an investigation and led to Congressional hearings in July 2007. 

Taking His Case to Washington

In Part II of my personality disorder series, Specialist Jon Town heads to Washington, where he tells a Congressional committee how he won the Purple Heart and was then denied disability and medical benefits.

We hear from Senator Kit Bond, Congressman Bob Filner, rock icon Dave Matthews and others who have reached out to the wounded soldier.

The article also includes interviews with Army doctors who say wounded soldiers are routinely misdiagnosed. 

The Talking Treatment

This article is a first-person look at my struggles with epilepsy — and the groundbreaking medical research that helped me get well.

This research and the treatment techniques derived from it, developed by psychologist Donna Andrews and Harvard-trained neurologist Joel Reiter, have led to critical discoveries about the nature of epilepsy which have yet to reach the public.

The product of several years of research and reporting in my own right, this article served as my master's thesis for the Columbia School of Journalism. 

Miracle or Science?

In the weird world of Utah, the line between miracle and science can indeed be a thin one. Certainly it was natural to ask that question after meeting Brooke and Bree Hansen, two identical twins as far as their friends and neighbors knew.

Only, as it turns out, Brooke and Bree are of no genetic relation whatsoever.  What are the chances, then, that the two girls would look identical?

"We're talking about one out of all the grains of sand on all the beaches in the world," said Professor Terry Schwaner, an expert in population genetics. 

Stem-Cell Research & Senator Hatch

This portrait of a Utah family suffering from Parkinson's disease and looking for help from stem-cell research struck a real chord with local readers, many of whom had Parkinson's in their family and had been debating themselves about the scientific and moral/religious implications of stem-cell research.

This article features my interview with Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), who had just made a bold - and, within Utah, quite controversial - stand in favor of the research.