Ricki Lewis is a widely-published science writer with a PhD in genetics, which she earned working with flies that had legs growing out of their heads. She is the author of the popular college textbook Human Genetics: Concepts and Applications, now in its 10th edition; founding author of Life; and co-author of two human anatomy and physiology textbooks (all with McGraw-Hill Higher Education); Human Genetics: The Basics (Routledge Press, 2010); Discovery: Windows on the Life Sciences (Blackwell, 2001), and the novel Stem Cell Symphony (Trafford Publishing, 2008).

Ricki is very excited about the forthcoming publication of The Forever Fix: Gene Therapy and the Boy Who Saved It, which St. Martin’s Press will publish in March 2012. The Forever Fix is the incredible but true story of 8-year-old Corey Haas, who was cured of hereditary blindness just four days after undergoing gene therapy, and provides a brief history of this biotechnology that nearly disappeared after the death of an 18-year-old who received gene therapy in the same hospital, nine years earlier. The Forever Fix also tells the tales of brave families with other inherited conditions, before and after their children undergo gene therapy.

Ricki is a genetic counselor at CareNet Medical Group in Schenectady, NY, an instructor for the Union College Academy of Lifelong Learning, and an Adjunct Professor of Medical Education for the master’s program at the Alden March Bioethics Institute of Albany Medical College, where she teaches “Genethics.” She is an expert speaker for the American Society of Human Genetics and has signed with the Macmillan Speakers Bureau to promote The Forever Fix.

Ricki has published thousands of articles in a very wide variety of publications, from The Scientist, Genetic Engineering News, Discover, and Nature, to Playgirl, Pet Care Reports, and encyclopedias, annual reports, and biotech business tomes. As a news writer for Medscape Today, she is aware of what’s happening in health and medicine well ahead of the pack. Ricki is also a volunteer for Community Hospice in Albany and Schenectady. She is full of wonderful stories and excels in explaining complex genetics to the average person.