Deborah Blum, who grew up in an âthe academic bubbleâ as the child of an entomology professor, thought she would be a scientist, too. But as a college sophomore she switched tactics, transferring to the University of Georgia to pursue journalism. Her career path took her back to science, if not into the lab. Blum presently directs the Knight Science Journalism Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, following an internationally acclaimed career as a science journalist and author. She won the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for reporting on her Sacramento Bee series on primate research, which led to the book âThe Monkey Wars.â She is the author of several additional books including âThe Poisonerâs Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York,â which was the basis for a PBS series.