About

I’m an independant science writer

based in Lausanne, Switzerland, and a member of impressum, the Swiss journalists' union.

My work explores how language creates and restricts the possibility of existing — for illnesses we can't define, species we can't categorize, and people whose realities defy our social frameworks. I'm particularly interested in what happens at the intersections of public health, the environment, history, and identity, and in understanding who and what in our world has the right to self-determination.

My reporting can be found in The Atlantic, The New Republic, STAT News, Slate, The New York Times, WIRED, The Open Notebook, Vox, The Associated Press, Popular Science, CJR and more. My New Yorker feature on envisioning a good life for people living with dementia was featured in 2023’s Best American Science and Nature Writing. You can also listen to learn about dementia-friendly architecture on a companion episode of 99 Percent Invisible.

I'm a graduate of the University of Minnesota and NYU’s SHERP and a once-intern at Radiolab, Popular Science, The Chicago Tribune, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, The Minneapolis Star Tribune, MPR News and my hometown newspaper, The Rochester Post-Bulletin. I was born in Montpellier, France, and grew up in Minnesota.

I'm available for commissions for reporting, articles, and audio content, in French or English (or both!).

(It’s pronounced mɛr-ˈiən, like “carry-on.”)