Ann MacDonald

Ann MacDonald is an editor at Harvard Health Publications, the consumer health publishing division of Harvard Medical School. While at Harvard, she has edited the Harvard Mental Health Letter, launched Perspectives on Prostate Disease, and contributed to special health reports on various topics.

Prior to working at Harvard, she ran her own medical communications business for five years, with clients that included Children's Hospital Boston, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Joslin Diabetes Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, and McLean Hospital. She also conducted background medical research for several public relations firms and provided editorial advice and writing services to a variety of clients in the health care field, such as the Conference of Boston Teaching Hospitals and Partners HealthCare System.

Before starting her own business, MacDonald held communications positions in development and public affairs at Dana-Farber and Massachusetts General Hospital, and served for two years as eastern regional director for the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

She has also published four books. She was a ghostwriter for The Arthritis Action Program, contributed two chapters to The Dana Guide to Brain Health, and was a coauthor of Mind Your Heart. Most recently, she ghostwrote the book, Neurofibromatosis: A Handbook for Patients, Families, and Health Care Providers. Her articles on health and other topics have appeared in Newsweek, The New York Times, and The Providence Journal.

Ann earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at Brandeis University. She is a member of the Authors Guild, the New England Science Writers, and the Online Journalists Association.