Welcome Sarah Avery and the News & Observer Science and Medicine Blog!

Following on the heels of the ScienceOnline'09 conference, I was delighted to learn this morning that our local fishwrapper has launched its own Science and Medicine blog. Led by N&O science editor, Sarah Avery, the Science and Medicine blog will expand upon the surprisingly sparse coverage of one of the most scientifically dense areas of the United States:

The Triangle is home to a wealth of medical and scientific research. While the nature of scientific advancement is incremental, many of these findings help advance our understanding of important diseases, drug therapies and natural systems. This blog will offer a snapshot of research findings and medical trends reported by local institutions, including Duke University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, N.C. State University, Research Triangle Institute, the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences, Family Health International and numerous other biomedical and research laboratories in the Research Triangle Park.

And for a little background on Sarah:

Sarah Avery has been involved in medical reporting since 2000. She wrote medical news as a reporter from 2000-05, and then oversaw coverage of medicine, science and the environment as the topics editor from 2005-08. Last year, she returned to reporting, resuming medical coverage. A journalist with 25 years of experience, she has been with The News & Observer since 1993.

Go on over (commenter registration required) and congratulate Ms Avery and the N&O for bringing news of one of the Triangle's most notable features to the international, online science community.

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Bora, Bora, Bora - there was this pulverized piece of dead tree that showed up on my driveway this morning called the News & Observer that listed Sarah's blog above the masthead.

Dave Munger just gave me hellacious grief about still subscribing to a dead tree pub (only 3 of 10 houses on his early morn run had newspapers in the driveway and he thought that was unusually too many) but there are things that show up there that don't make it to the e-version.

Whatever. I'm totally stoked that 1) Sarah's excellent writing will be in the blogosphere and 2) that the N&O recognizes that a blog presence for Triangle science and medicine is a big big plus and a largely unmet need.