Patrick Skerrett

About Patrick Skerrett

Pat Skerrett is the founder and former editor of First Opinion, STAT\'s opinion and perspective section. Before joining STAT, he worked at Harvard Health Publications from to 2015, first as editor of the Harvard Heart Letter and then as the organization\'s Executive Editor. He is the co-author of the bestselling book, Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating, along with five other books. He has extensive experience as a freelance writer and editor for popular publications such as Popular Science, Newsweek, and Technology Review; and medical journals and textbooks such as Annals of Internal Medicine and Braunwald\'s Heart Disease. He has also helped write a number of successful NIH grants.

Experience

1. Editor, First Opinion

   Stat

   Aug 2015 — Present

   Curated and edited First Opinion, STAT\'s forum for opinion and commentary on the life sciences writ large. I reached out to individuals with unique professional or personal perspectives to contribute to First Opinion, worked with authors to hone their messages, and selected the best essays from the growing stream of submissions. Since its launch in 2015, First Opinion has become a go-to source for opinion and perspective in the biotech, pharma, and health care ecosystems.

Education

• Northwestern University

  BA, Biology

  1971 — 1975

• Washington University in St. Louis

  MA, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology