Tara Parker-Pope

Tara Parker-Pope is an American author of general audience books on health and personal wellness. She writes the "Well" blog for the New York Times. Prior to joining the New York Times, Parker-Pope wrote for the Wall Street Journal.

Parker-Pope's books include Cigarettes: Anatomy of an Industry from Seed to Smoke (2001), HRT: Everything You Need to Know to Untangle the Controversy, Understand your Options and Make Your Own Choices (2007), and For Better: How the Surprising Science of Happy Couples Can Help Your Marriage Succeed (2010).

Her writing style is to mix personal observation with discussions of scientific research. For some, this style is appealing, as when Anne Colby writes in an online blog of the Los Angeles Times, "One of the perks of being a journalist is that it can give professional license to explore subjects of personal interest and to knock on doors closed to most people -- all in the course of doing your job. Author Tara Parker-Pope has made the most of that opportunity with her excellent new book." For others, this approach yields "relationship advice [which] is familiar and commonsensical," even as "married couples will still benefit from this refresher course."

Parker-Pope was born in Arizona, and has lived in Japan, Taiwan, Texas and Ohio. She currently lives in Pennsylvania with her daughter and several pets.