Philip J. Hilts

Welcome

Philip J. Hilts, the author of six books, has been a prize-winning health and science reporter for both the New York Times and the Washington Post. Over 20 years, he placed more than 300 stories on the front pages of those papers. His stories have included a report back from one mile below the Pacific Ocean surface in an active volcano, the confessions of a healer in Zambia who was "curing" AIDS, and articles on hypnosis-induced court testimony that resulted in four men being freed from jail.

His most recent book is RX for Survival: Why We Must Rise to the Global Health Challenge (Penguin, 2005). His previous book, Protecting America's Health: The FDA, Business and 100 Years of Regulation was winner of the 2004 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Science and Technology, as well as a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. His book Scientific Temperaments was a finalist for the National Book Award. Smokescreen: The Truth Behind the Tobacco Industry Cover-up was selected as one of the ten best books of the year by Business Week Magazine.

Hilts teaches science journalism to graduate students at Boston University and has taught journalism to undergraduates at the University of Botswana. He has been listed in Who’s Who in America since 1994.

Hilts is represented by Gloria Loomis of the Watkins-Loomis agency: gloria@watkinsloomis.com. He is represented for speaking by Jodi Solomon of the Jodi Solomon Speakers Bureau:jodi@jodisolomon.biz.

RX for Survival: Why We Must Rise to the Global Health Challenge

"A clarion call to devote many more resources, human and financial, to improving health conditions in poor countries." -Richard Cooper in FOREIGN AFFAIRS

We now know, counter-intuitively perhaps, that in the development of nations, health drives wealth, not the other way around. So how we invest in developing countries is critical - and there is a lot of reason for hope. Travels to India, Botswana, Bangladesh and Nepal reveal public health projects that are highly effective, low in cost, and locally driven. All show the way forward for both countries dealing with disastrous disease and poverty, and the wealthy nations with the resources to make a difference.



Books and Articles

Books and Articles
RX for Survival: Why We Must Rise to the Globl Health Challenge
A look at what is working in public health around the world, and why we have cause for hope
Protecting America’s Health: The FDA, Business, and One Hundred Years of Regulation.
The only history of the Food and Drug Administration, this book tells the story of the fight over using science as the basis of public policy. Named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.
Smokescreen: The Truth Behind the Tobacco Industry Cover-Up
This book is an investigation of the tobacco industry's forty-year disinformation campaign on cigarette smoking, from Hilts, who was the reporter who broke the story of the tobacco companies' thousands of pages of secret documents. His reports were among those that started the "tobacco wars" in the United States, which continue today in the courts. Selected as one of the “ten best books of the year” by Business Week, and was a finalist in the London Financial Times global business book awards.
Memory's Ghost: The Nature of Memory and The Strange Tale of Mr. M
The story of Mr. M, whose memory was removed accidentally during a surgey in 1953, and what we began to learn about memory from his case. Traces the study of memory over the past 3,000 years in science and literature, and through Henry's case tells about the matter and meaning of memory.
Scientific Temperaments: Three Lives in Contemporary Science
A penetrating look at the human side of science, and how the human element drives the rational endeavor. Examines the quirky lives and work of three founding scientists in artificial intelligence, molecular biology and particle physics. A finalist for the National Book Award.
Non-fiction
RX for Survival: Why We Must Rise to the Global Health Challenge
A look at what is working in global health around the world, and why we have cause for hope.



Find Authors

Created by The Authors Guild

A note for users of older versions of Internet Explorer, Netscape, or AOL:
This site will look a lot better in a newer browser. Download one for free!
Internet Explorer: Windows Mac   |   Netscape: Windows Mac Other
For AOL users, please choose Internet Explorer above.