BOUCHEZ, Colette 1960-

PERSONAL:

Born 1960.

ADDRESSES:

Home—New York, NY. Agent—c/o Author's Mail, Broadway Books, Random House, 1540 Broadway, New York, NY 10036 E-mail—Colette@TheVZone.net.

CAREER:

Journalist and author of nonfiction. New York Daily News, New York, NY, staff writer and senior medical reporter, 1984-98; HealthscoutNews.com, medical reporter; creator of TheVZone.net.

MEMBER:

American Medical Women's Association.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Fifty-Year Anniversary Award, Multiple Sclerosis Foundation, 1996, for excellence in science writing; Emmy Award in news documentary writing and production, for reports on breast cancer; National Media Award, American Society of Rectal Surgeons, 1997; honored by American Cancer Society, American Academy of Dermatology, NBCAM, National Multiple Sclerosis Society, National Coalition of Breast Cancer Organizations, Columbia School of Journalism, and Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism for outstanding contributions in the field of medical writing.

WRITINGS:

(With Niels H. Lauersen) Getting Pregnant: What

Couples Need to Know Right Now, Macmillan International (New York, NY), 1991, revised as Getting Pregnant: What You Need to Know Right Now, Fireside (New York, NY), 2000.

The V Zone: A Woman's Guide to Intimate Health Care, foreword by Elsa-Grace V. Giardina, Simon and Schuster (New York, NY), 2001.

Your Perfectly Pampered Pregnancy: Beauty, Health, and Lifestyle Advice for the Modern Mother-to-Be, Broadway Books (New York, NY), 2004.

Contributor to periodicals, including Buffalo News, Cosmopolitan, First for Women, Fresno Bee, Globe and Mail, Los Angeles Daily News, New York Times, and Savvy Woman. Syndicated columnist for Copley News Syndicate, 1978, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Washington Post.

SIDELIGHTS:

Colette Bouchez is an internationally known journalist and author. Her career has been dedicated to health and medical writing, with a focus on women's health issues.

For fifteen years Bouchez was a medical reporter for the New York Daily News, earning numerous awards and honors from many prestigious medical and journalistic organizations, including the American Cancer Society, the American Academy of Dermatology, the American Society of Colon and Cancer Surgeons, and the National Coalition of Breast Cancer Organizations.

Bouchez's journalism career began in 1978 with a weekly health-and-beauty column for the Copley News Syndicate. She eventually expanded her syndicated columns through the Los Angeles Times and Words by Wire syndicates, the latter which regularly placed her column in the Washington Post.

In 1984 Bouchez joined the staff of the New York Daily News, where she accomplished some of her most important work. Two of her exclusive reports instigated significant women's health care legislation capable of saving hundreds of thousands of lives. In February 1997, a bill was introduced in the New York State Legislature ensuring government funding for research to help reduce unnecessary surgical procedures for women. Later that same year the Women's Health and Dioxin Act of 1997 was introduced in the 105th Congress, mandating federal testing of feminine hygiene products suspected of increasing the risk of cancer. Both legislative bodies publicly credited Bouchez's contributions to these bills and to the overall health of American women.

In 1996 Bouchez was honored with the Fifty-Year Anniversary Award for excellence in science writing by the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation. The following year she received an award from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism for outstanding contributions in the field of medical writing. She has also received an Emmy Award for television news documentary writing and production for her series on breast cancer for WNBC-TV and the New York Daily News.

Bouchez's first book, coauthored with fertility expert Dr. Niels Lauersen and titled Getting Pregnant: What Couples Need to Know Right Now, gives practical, specific information and advice to help couples conceive. A Publishers Weekly reviewer noted that the authors "offer know-how on in-vitro fertilization procedures and programs. A brief but helpful resource section lists the names of medical associations, self-help groups and physicians specializing in reproductive medicine." The book was completely revised and updated in 2000 as Getting Pregnant: What You Need to Know Right Now. Bouchez left the New York Daily News in 1998 in order to pursue further book writing projects.

In 2001 Bouchez's ground-breaking The V Zone: A Woman's Guide to Intimate Health Care was published. In a review on the Exploring Womanhood Web site, Nancy Gazzola called the book "a comprehensive and practical guide to the health and hygiene concerns regarding the vagina." Bouchez encourages women to become more familiar with their own intimate anatomy and, when health issues arise, to explore different treatment options and alternative natural solutions. She provides up-to-date information on a variety of problems, including sexually transmitted diseases, painful intercourse, recurring urinary tract infections, AIDS, and itches and rashes, along with a resource guide to personal-hygiene products that ranks their effectiveness and safety. Jodith Janes concluded in Library Journal that The V Zone is "a wonderful, easy-to-read, comprehensive guide" that is "highly recommended for all women's health collections." In 2003 Bouchez created the V Zone Web site to further address women's health issues.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Library Journal, June 15, 1991, Jodith Janes, review of Getting Pregnant: What Couples Need to Know Right Now, p. 95; April 15, 2001, Jodith Janes, review of The V Zone, p. 125.

Publishers Weekly, June 21, 1991, review of Getting Pregnant, p. 61.

ONLINE

Broadway Books Web site,http://www.randomhouse.com/broadway/ (July 10, 2003).

Exploring Womanhood,http://www.exploringwomanhood.com/ (July 10, 2003), Nancy Gazzola, review of The V Zone: A Woman's Guide to Intimate Health Care.

InterNational Council on Infertility Information Dissemination Web site,http://www.inciid.org/ (1999).

V Zone Web site,http://www.thevzone.net/ (October 3, 2003).*