J-School Alum Elena Conis Named to Faculty

Dr. Elena Conis, a 2004 graduate of the J-School, has been named the newest member of the faculty at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.

Elena has 12 years of teaching experience. Most recently she was an Assistant Professor of History and Faculty Fellow in the Health and Humanities in the Department of History at Emory University. From 2003 to 2011 she was an award-winning health columnist for The Los Angeles Times, where she wrote the “Esoterica Medica,” “Nutrition Lab,” and “Supplements” columns.

“We are very pleased to welcome Elena back to North Gate Hall,” said Edward Wasserman, J-School dean. “She brings a remarkable depth of academic and journalistic experience, and her background in science and medicine strengthens a vital area of instruction and research. Plus, she’s a serious scholar and a very seasoned classroom teacher.”

Elena earned her Ph.D. in History of Health Science from UC San Francisco, and has an impressive array of published works in health journalism and medical history. Her doctoral dissertation, “Calling the Shots: A Social History of Vaccination in the U.S. 1968-2008,” became the foundation for her first book, Vaccine Nation: America’s Changing Relationship with Immunization (University of Chicago Press), which helped focus her onto her unique specialization” one that covers the intersection of history, health, media and the environment.

Vaccine Nation received the Arthur J. Viseltear Award from the American Public Health Association and was named a Choice Magazine Outstanding Academic Title and a Science Pick of the Week by the journal Nature. She is currently working on a book with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities on the history of the pesticide DDT.

Along with her appointment at the J-School as an assistant professor, Elena will serve on the faculty of the Department of Anthropology, History, and Social Medicine at UC San Francisco as an affiliated faculty member. In addition to her doctoral and MJ degrees, she holds a master of public health degree from Berkeley and a bachelor’s degree in biology from Columbia.