Denise Grady became a reporter for the science news department of The New York Times in September 1998. She was a freelance writer for the department during 1996 and became a contract writer in 1997. Ms. Grady has written more than 500 stories about medicine and biology for The Times, and has edited Times books on women's health and alternative medicine.

From 1988 to 1998, Ms. Grady was a freelance writer who contributed to many publications, including Science, Discover, Time, Scientific American, Vogue, Reader's Digest, American Health, Parenting and Self.

Before that, she was a staff writer covering medicine for Time magazine. She was a staff writer at Discover magazine from 1985 to 1987; an associate editor for The Sciences magazine from 1984 to 1985; a contributing writer to Discover magazine from 1983 to 1984; a staff writer for Discover magazine from 1980 to 1983; an assistant editor for the New England Journal of Medicine from 1979 to 1980; an instructor in writing at the University of New Hampshire in 1978; and an assistant editor for Physics Today from 1974 to 1975.

Born in New York City on April 23, 1952, Ms. Grady received a B.S. degree in biology from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1973 and an M.A. degree in English from the University of New Hampshire in 1978.

Ms. Grady is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 1998 Media Award from the American Society of Anesthesiologists; the 1994 National Headliner Award; the 1993 National Media Award from the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology; the 1990 Golden Block Award from the National Stuttering Project; the 1983 National Council for Geographic Education, best geographic article in a nongeographic publication; the 1982 William Harvey Award, 3rd place, from the American Medical Writers Association, the National High Blood Pressure Education Program and Squibb Corporation; and the 1981 National Society of Professional Engineers, 2nd place, 16th annual journalism awards. She also received a commendation from the Newspaper Guild for "choice and excellence of crusading journalistic contributions in the areas of science and medicine," in 1986.

Ms. Grady is married, has two sons and lives in Irvington, N.Y.