Melanie Haiken, Health Journalist

Melanie Haiken discovered how important it is to provide accurate, targeted, usable health information to people facing difficult decisions when she was health editor of Parenting magazine. She has written about health and family-related issues for magazines such as Health, Real Simple, Woman's Day, Yoga Journal, and websites such as BabyCenter.com, WebMD, and the Blue Cross/Blue Shield websites (aHealthyMe.com, aHealthyAdvantage.com) managed by Consumer Health Interactive. She has held positions as Executive Editor at the Industry Standard and BabyCenter.com, and Managing Editor at San Francisco magazine. She has also worked for San Francisco's renowned Center for Investigative Reporting. She has a master's degree in Journalism and a B.A. in English, both from the University of California at Berkeley.

Melanie cared for her father while he battled esophageal cancer, which ended his life much too soon. She currently cares for her mother, who has multiple health problems including low vision. Melanie is a single mother of two daughters, so she understands the complicated pressures on the so-called "sandwich generation."