Before making the leap from a salaried job to freelancing in 1990, I was a writer at The Journal of NIH Research and the editor of Science magazine's Guide to Biotechnology Products and Instruments. 

I've written articles and patient information pamphlets on all sorts of topics related to diabetes, including many on weight loss, good diet, and exercise. I wrote the American Diabetes Association's award-winning patient newsletter, The Diabetes Advisor, during its existence (1993–1999).

I've also written extensively on biomedical techniques and their applications, including the polymerase chain reaction and other nucleic acid amplification techniques, cell culture methods, immunoassays, electroporation, computer-aided drug design, and biosensors.

I also have coauthored two books, one popular and one professional:

• The Commonsense Guide to Weight Loss for People with Diabetes (by Barbara Caleen Hansen and Shauna S. Roberts) explains what scientists know about the best ways to lose weight and tells how losing weight can help some people with diabetes control their glucose better. Published by the American Diabetes Association in 1998 and recipient of two awards for health books.


• Basic Demographic Observations on Free-Ranging Rhesus Monkeys (by Donald Stone Sade, B. Diane Chepko-Sade, Jonathan M. Schneider, Shauna S. Roberts, and Joan T. Richtsmeier) contains life histories for 2285 rhesus monkeys who lived on the island of Cayo Santiago, Puerto Rico, between 1956 and 1977. Published by the Human Relation Area Files in 1985.

Personal Background

I grew up in a small Midwestern town (Beavercreek, Ohio) and earned my B.A. in Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and my M.A. and Ph.D. in Anthropology at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL.

 I also write speculative fiction, and my first novel will be published in late 2009 or early 2010. (See  my fiction Web site for more information.) When not writing, I play harp and recorders in early music groups. I also enjoy quilting, growing herbs, and making bread. I live with my husband of 26 years in the mountains of Southern California.

• "Blood Safety in the Age of AIDS" (FASEB Journal 10:391-402, 1996)

• "Cytokine Research Proliferates despite Growing Pains" (Science 282:1727-36, 1998)

• "Take Two: Aspirin" (Modern Drug Discovery 3(8):23-27, 2000)

• "The Diabetes Advisor" (Diabetes Forecast, February 2008)