Marla Vacek Broadfoot is a freelance writer and editor who specializes in biomedical research. From 2006 to 2007, she served as a senior public relations specialist at the Duke University Medical Center News Office, covering topics ranging from blind fungus to lung cancer diagnostics. Marla was a postdoctoral fellow at the National Human Genome Research Institute and was awarded board certification in clinical molecular genetics by the American College of Medical Genetics in 2005. She received her Ph.D. in genetics and molecular biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2003.