Beatrice Brown, Neighbor

I am a contributing author in several of the New York Times Bestselling Chicken Soup for the Soul series. I am currently working on a science fiction novel based on many experiences while living in the Caribbean. I was raised in the Baltimore-Washington, DC area, educated in the east with degrees in biochemistry from Rutgers University and while at Temple University School of Medicine, I conducted medical research in cell pathology and DNA repair. My early professional career was in the development and marketing of cancer diagnostic products. This technology was cutting edge and it afforded me the opportunity to disseminate it around the world--travelling to and teaching in Europe, Scandinavia, and Asia. I have lived in many parts of the United States, the northeast(Philadelphia/NJ), the southwest(Tucson, Arizona) and the west coast(Santa Barbara, CA). I do recall a very brief stay in the midwest(Indianapolis, IN), but that is all a blur. While at the University of Arizona, home of the Center for Integrative Medicine where Dr. Andrew Weil resides academically, I began to re-configure my passions-- health, food, and writing into new directions. It's a wonderful feeling to combine all the things that I love into something that others can read and enjoy. That is my joy.

I am from a family that cooks! An executive chef-son, a baker-daughter, and they say that I can hold my own among them. Well, the apples didn't fall too far from the tree. I have been a restaurateur and understand both the "front of the house," as well as the "back of the house" operations. So, understanding the creative aspect and the bottom-line considerations of restaurants places me in a unique position to write restaurant reviews. My culinary heroes are Ronald Brown-The Digital Chef (one of my own apples), Alice Waters (for her dedication to organics and healthy food and food writing), Julia Child (for her pioneering in televised cooking), Marcus Samuelsson (for his cross-cultural perspective), Rick Bayless (for his expertise in Mexican fare), James Beard (for "keeping it real"-- American chef) and the not to be forgotten, Auguste Escoffier, the 19th century French pioneer of haute cuisine. All of these people I admire and have been influenced by them.