Writing

I’ve been writing in various forms for over two decades. Here are a few examples of my work.

You can also read about how I got started as a science writer at The Xylom, my contributions to the Fancy Comma, LLC blog, and the essays I’ve published in The Prompt Magazine. I’m also on MuckRack.

I’m also a published scientist; read my scientific articles at my Google Scholar page. As a PhD candidate at Georgetown, I worked on two projects examining the neural bases of addiction, stress, and trauma: 1) identifying brain imaging biomarkers of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (see my citable preprint article as well as posters here and here) and 2) links between adolescent brain development and decision-making (paper forthcoming on this one, too). I will always be a scientist at heart!

Skip to a particular section of my portfolio:
Books
First-Author Peer-Reviewed Works
Articles
– Communicating Science Effectively
– Health
– Science and Technology
– Video Games
– Finance/Economy
– Arts and Culture
– Personal Essay

Books

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Amplifying Science Communication with Public Relations, published June 2, 2022.

How to Get Started in Freelance Science Writing, published March 23, 2021.

Editor of The Young Leader’s Guide to Internships, Scholarships, and Fellowships in Washington, DC, and Beyond, by Steeve Simbert, published August 5, 2018.

First-Author Peer-Reviewed Works

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Azma, S. (2013). Poverty and the Developing Brain: Insights from Neuroimaging. Synesis: A Journal of Science, Technology, Ethics, and Policy, 4(1): G40-46. [pdf]

Azma, S. (2002). Poem-painter: E. E. Cummings’ Artistic Mastery of Words. Journal of the E.E. Cummings Society, (11): 79-88. [pdf]

Articles

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Communicating Science Effectively:

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How Science Communication Can Improve Your Career. Neuronline (Society for Neuroscience). September 23, 2021.

Health Communication Messaging Is Critical to Flattening the COVID-19 Curve, Human Events, August 19, 2021.

For Effective Science Advocacy, Focus on Shared Values, and Speak Up Often, Union of Concerned Scientists Blog, April 22, 2021.

How to Lecture about Science Communication, with Nidhi Parekh, Science Talk Blog, May 13, 2021.

Practical Science Communication Exercises for the Classroom, with Nidhi Parekh, Science Talk Blog (Association of Science Communicators), June 3, 2021.

Do’s and Don’ts for Developing Classroom SciComm Exercises, with Nidhi Parekh, Science Talk Blog (Association of Science Communicators), June 10, 2021.

Using Evidence-Based SciComm to Improve Science Communication, with Nidhi Parekh, Science Talk Blog (Association of Science Communicators), July 9, 2021.

Learning from Pandemic SciComm in Action, with Nidhi Parekh, Science Talk Blog (Association of Science Communicators), July 15, 2021.

When It Comes to Communications, Scientists Can Learn a Lot From Policymakers, with Monique Faith Boodram, STEM First! Gen Blog, July 16, 2021.

The Importance of a COVID-19 Science Communication “Ground Game,” Georgetown Voice, October 15, 2021.

Finding Compassionate Science Communication Beyond Political Divides, Science Talk Blog (Association of Science Communicators), February 18, 2022.

3 Ways Being a Cognitive Neuroscientist Makes Me a Great Communicator, Upwork Community Blog, June 23, 2022.

How to Get Started in Freelance Science Writing, Emerging Creatives of Science, November 4, 2022.

Learning from the policy world to give a voice to science, Science Talk Blog (Association of Science Communicators), March 13, 2023.

Health:

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5 Patient Safety Takeaways From Dr. Death, GoodRx Blog, September 13, 2021.

The Dire Implications of COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy, with Henry I. Miller, Issues and Insights, October 11, 2021.

New COVID-19 Drug and Diagnostics Could Be A Game-Changer, with Henry I. Miller, Washington Examiner, October 12, 2021.

22 Months into the Pandemic, Healthcare Worker Burnout Is Real, Georgetown Voice, January 23, 2022.

Long Covid highlights racism in medicine, need for high-reliability hospital operations, MedCity News, March 22, 2022.

In the Pandemic, Racism in Medicine Jeopardizes Patient Safety, Patient Safety Movement Foundation, March 29, 2022. (This piece was actually accepted to NPR Shots blog in late August 2021, then pulled because there was way too much news happening!)