My name is Carl Heltzel and I am a PhD chemist, writer, and author. About 13 years ago, I was helping my mother in her garden when she had pain in her chest. We took her to a regional hospital in Virginia where we discovered that a lung tumor cracked her rib. She was a tough woman who smoked until around 40 then quit. We got her to a hospital in Richmond where the PET scans showed that the cancer was all through her body and no treatment was possible. She passed away 30 days later. My father smoked also and has bladder cancer, prostate cancer and COPD.
I was a freelance writer and editor for ten years until 2021, when I was hired as a director for research development and senior science writer. I wanted to focus my efforts on grant writing and editing to help investigators get the funding they desperately need to carry out such important research.
