About the editors

Monya Baker
Editor, Nature Reports Stem Cells
San Francisco

Eagerness to explore online, interactive publishing led Monya Baker from her work as a freelance journalist to a position with Nature Reports Stem Cells. As Editor, Monya writes, edits and solicits articles that chronicle the politics, ethics and science of a young, swiftly changing field. After working as a AAAS Mass Media Fellow for ABC News, Monya fled broadcast journalism for a high school classroom, where she taught biology, chemistry and math before venturing into print journalism at the Acumen Journal of Life Sciences. As synopses editor at MIT's Technology Review, Monya solicited input from scientists and venture capitalists to select the most promising emerging research. She has written for The Economist, New Scientist, The Scientist, Nature, Nature Biotechnology, Wired and other publications. Monya has a BA in biology from Carleton College and an EdM from Harvard University.

Natalie DeWitt
Editor at Large, Nature Reports Stem Cells
Senior Editor, Nature
San Francisco

Natalie DeWitt has handled stem cell manuscripts for Nature since 2001, and during that time, has watched the idea for Nature Reports Stem Cells metamorphose from concept to reality. As Editor at Large, Natalie is working on developing the site as an interactive, online tool for the stem cell community and the interested public. Natalie received a BS in biochemistry from the University of Maryland and a PhD in cell and molecular biology from the University of Wisconsin. After postdoctoral fellowships at Yale and Princeton Universities, Natalie left the bench in 1999, exchanging Pipetman for keyboard to become a research editor at Nature Biotechnology in New York. Two years later she moved to Nature, opening the first Nature editorial office in San Francisco, where she took over handling the fields of developmental biology and stem cells. Currently she is dividing her time between Nature Reports Stem Cells and Nature, and hopes her efforts on both publications will improve communication in stem cell research and help advance this important field.

Jessica Kolman
Editorial Assistant, Nature
San Francisco

Jessica Kolman manages the San Francisco office and has been an assistant to the San Francisco-based biology editors for 6 years. She received a BA in government from Eastern Washington University. Jessica now brings her layperson's enthusiasm to the Nature Reports Stem Cells website, providing a nonscientist's perspective on the science and issues of stem cells. An illustrator who is interested in image research, Jessica also identifies and processes graphics that accompany the site's content, and compiles the Events section.