Tara Haelle
Categories
Content Marketing Writer Author Journalist
About
Tara Haelle is an independent science/health journalist, author, speaker, and photographer. With two decades of reporting experience under her belt, her work has appeared in the National Geographic, Scientific American, Texas Monthly, Science News, Medscape/WebMD, The New York Times, Wired, and O Magazine, among others. She specializes in writing about public health and medical research, particularly vaccines, infectious disease, maternal and pediatric health, mental health, healthcare disparities, LGBTQIA+ topics, misinformation, and parenting. Her trade work covering medical research and medical conferences has appeared in Medscape/WebMD, MedPage Today, and Haymarket and HealthCentral publications.
A former Forbes and Medium contributor, Tara is the infectious disease beat leader at the Association of Health Care Journalists, where she previously led the medical studies beat, providing resources and training on responsible journalistic coverage of medical research and infectious disease. Her monthly blog at Science & the Sea, from the University of Texas Marine Science Institute, highlights short stories about marine life.
Tara is author of Vaccination Investigation: The History and Science of Vaccines, a starred Kirkus book, and The Informed Parent: A Science-Based Resource for Your Child’s First Four Years. She has also written over a dozen children’s nonfiction science books. As a professional speaker, Tara has spoken about vaccine hesitancy at TEDx Oslo and has delivered national and international keynotes, webinars and grand rounds on vaccines and vaccine hesitancy, parenting, understanding medical research, storytelling, and mental health, including how to manage the depletion of your personal surge capacity.
Tara received her master’s in photojournalism from the University of Texas at Austin, and her images have appeared in NPR, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Chicago Sun-Times and Women’s Wear Daily. An avid traveler, Tara has backpacked, hiked, train-hopped, sky-dived, spelunked, scuba-dived and motorbiked through dozens of countries while eating strange insects, trekking to ancient ruins, and swimming with sharks. She lives in Texas with her husband and two sons, four dogs, and 15 pet rats, give or take.
public health journalist specializing in medical research, vaccines, infectious disease, healthcare disparities
Additional Info
Location (City or region) : Dallas, Texas
List any memberships you have with other organizations : AHCJ, NASW, SPJ, NPPA, JAWS
General Subjects (Select all that apply) : Education, Health & Medicine, Lifestyle, Parenting, Fitness & Nutrition, Science, Travel
Specialty Subjects : vaccines & vaccine hesitancy, infectious disease, medical research, pediatrics, maternal health, women's health, mental health, parenting, obesity, nutrition, medical conference coverage, cognitive bias
Skills (Select all that apply) : Blog posts, Conference coverage, Content marketing, Feature writing, Essays, Editing, Investigative reporting, News, Op-Ed, Photography, Podcasting, Podcasts, Q&A, Profiles, Web copy, Conference/meeting coverage
Writing Credits : National Geographic, Scientific American, Texas Monthly, Cure Magazine, HuffPost, Medscape, WebMD, NPR, Self Magazine, O Magazine, Science News, Sierra Magazine, Everyday Health, Science & the Sea, STAT, Wired, Dallas Morning News, History.com, Hakai, Johns Hopkins Magazine, Parents Magazine, Politico, Quartz, Washington Post
Book Credits : Vaccination Investigation: The History and Science of Vaccines, The Informed Parent: A Science-Based Resource for Your Child's First Four Years, various children's science books
Awards & Recognitions : *ASJA Winner in Trade, 2026: ‘Symptom Invalidation’ in Clinically Uncertain Diagnoses Can Leave Lasting Mental Health Harms'
*ASJA Honorable Mention in Food and Drink, 2026: Cutting back on ultra-processed foods sounds easy. The truth is much more complicated”
*ASJA Excellence in Reporting winner, 2023 : 'Why is it so hard to compensate people for serious vaccine side effects?'
*ASJA Trade category winner, 2023: 'Roe Reversal May Go Well Beyond Abortion'
*ASJA Reported Essay winner, 2021: 'Your ‘Surge Capacity’ Is Depleted — It’s Why You Feel Awful'
*ASJA Opinion/Op-Ed winner, 2021 'Why It’s Important to Push Back on ‘Plandemic’—And How to Do It'
*Large-Circulation Print winner, Texas Medical Association 2020 Anson Jones, MD, Awards: 'Cancer Prevention Vaccine a Hard Sell for Some North Texas Parents '
*June Roth Memorial Award for an Outstanding Medical Book: The Informed Parent, 2019
*ASJA Outstanding Children/Young Adult Nonfiction Book: Vaccination Investigation, 2019
*Marine Biological Laboratory Logan Science Journalism Fellowship, 2018
*AHCJ CDC Fellowship, 2018
*AHCJ Comparative Effectiveness Research Fellowship at PCORI, 2018
Membership Type
Professional Membership