Beth Baker

Beth Baker is a long-time freelance journalist whose work has appeared in dozens of magazines and newspapers, including the Washington Post, Washingtonian, Ms., Preservation, Ebony, and Nature Conservancy. For many years, she was the Washington columnist and feature writer for BioScience, the journal of the American Institute of Biological Sciences. She has written extensively on medical research and aging issues for the AARP Bulletin and has been a frequent contributor to the Washington Post Health section.

Her new book, Old Age in a New Age: The Promise of Transformative Nursing Homes, was published in May, 2007, by Vanderbilt University Press. Linda Aufderhaar, president of the National Association of Professional Geriatric Care Managers, calls it "An insightful, inspiring, well-researched book that poignantly describes the lessons of how a person-centered approach and culture change is possible and should be expected in nursing homes and assisted-living communities." And Elma Holder, founder of the National Citizens' Coalition for Nursing Home Reform, says the book "can bolster the efforts of all who seek on-going quality in long-term care."

Her biography for young people, Sylvia Earle: Guardian of the Sea (Lerner Publishing 2001), was chosen for Bank Street College Best Children’s Books of the Year, 2002, and was designated an Honor Book by the Society of School Librarians International. The book was reissued in 2006 for older youth, as part of the publisher's Just the Facts series.

Among the honors Baker has received for feature writing are a 2004 Media Fellowship, presented by Case Western Reserve University, for a program on “The Golden Years: How Will We Care for Our Elderly?”; the Gold Award by the 1998 and 2006 National Mature Media Awards; and first place for best feature writing by the Cooperative Communicators Association in 1992, for a story on how a hazardous waste site divided a rural community.

Through the Washington Ethical Society, she was the producer and interviewer for a documentary video, Coming of Age--the Path to Adulthood, which won a Gold Award in 2004 by the Aurora Awards, an international competition honoring excellence in film and video.

Before becoming a writer, she was a dialysis technician, hospital ward clerk, assembly line worker, secretary, and peace activist.

She is certified in Natural History through the Audubon Naturalist Society and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Graduate School and is a hospice volunteer.

She and her husband live in Takoma Park, Maryland, and have two grown children.