Medical Journalist 

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As a young mother concerned about the cancer-causing effects of fire-retardant chemicals used in children’s sleepwear and the preservatives used in foods, Joan took her causes to the media. That led to her first position as a television and radio consumer reporter with KERA, the PBS affiliate in Dallas. She also wrote articles for various magazines as well as for the Fort Worth Star Telegram and the Dallas Morning News. From the beginning of her career, she has used her writing and reporting to inform the public about critical issues that impact their lives.

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Her award-winning investigative article, “Deep Sleep,” published in 

D Magazine (Dallas), revealed the cause of an unprecedented cluster of anesthesia deaths and was the impetus for a segment on the ABC show, 20/20 for which she consulted. 

 

Also in D Magazine, her in-depth report, "The Baby Factory," chronicled the dangerous procedures used during the birth of her second child and helped usher in a more natural approach to hospital deliveries in her home city of Fort Worth. 

 

She won The American Cancer Society of Texas Journalist Award for her article, “A Time to Die,” which explained a more sensitive and honest approach to dying offered by a new and controversial program at the time – Hospice.

 

Her video, Shelter From The Storm of Family Violence, which she produced in the late 1980’s, helped educate the public on this hidden problem, as well as highlighting the important work of the women’s shelter in Fort Worth. The video won an award from the Dallas Chapter of Women in Communication.

 

Joan left journalism and TV/radio reporting to help start the community cable television channel for the City of Fort Worth where she also produced and hosted several shows and documentaries. From there she took a position as a healthcare administrator for a major Texas health system. But, always a writer at heart, she continued to work on plays and other outside writing projects.  

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Author

 

Joan helped co-write two books with a nationally recognized physician and also co- wrote a highly successful children’s book, Diggy Armadillo Goes to the Stock Show and Rodeo. It is a Cowtown (Fort Worth, Texas) favorite. The book was incorporated into the Fort Worth ISD third-grade curriculum. It was also published each year for grades 2-6 by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram as part of their "Newspapers in Education" series. Diggy Armadillo received an endorsement from the then first lady, Laura Bush, and from U.S. Congresswoman Kay Granger who said it was “my choice to read to students during National Library Week. They loved it.”  

 

Joan’s most recent book, " My Action Plan: Stopping the Symptoms

of Mitral Valve Prolapse Syndrome/Dysautonomia,"

was released October 2021.  

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Playwright 

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Joan  wrote and performed in many of her own plays at local events, for professional groups and on various stages in the Dallas/Fort Worth Area.  Her full-length play, “1-800-4Advice,” has been produced on many local stages. Her one-acts and ten-minute plays have won numerous competitions throughout the United States,  including  Theatre Oxford in Oxford, Mississippi. 

Tennessee Williams New Orleans Literary Festival, The Little Theatre of Alexandria.

Her monologue, "I Witness" was performed in New York City and published in "Stage This!" Volume 3: Monologues by E-MergingWriters.com and Fn productions.

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