Her first work was a diary from 1969, documenting the television shows she watched each day. Her entree into the field of journalism (and departure from academe) was in 2004 when she turned her public health PhD thesis proposal on prenatal depression into an article published in Chicago Parent. Since then, she has considered herself an interpreter of health and medicine for lay audiences.
Judith hopes to educate and inspire people by providing access to information, and to help others tell their stories. She is most proud of a short piece she published in the Chicago Tribune, “Interpreting the Silences,” about a survivor of politically sponsored torture. The survivor trusted Judith with his story, and the story’s publication inspired others to volunteer at Marjorie Kovler Center, where the client was receiving services.
In 2023, Judith was named a Fulbright U.S. Specialist, a three-year term during which she hopes to work with with healthcare professionals and journalists in other countries. She writes and publishes in English and French, and she is currently working on a book circumscribing progress in women’s health in Morocco, 1980-2020.
