Turning life into words, Maria Simbra, MD, MPH, is the director and principal at Ironed Words Productions, LLC, where writers and storytellers can find support with conferences and feedback. Ironed Words, which opened in July 2023, offers the Critique Services for Writers, as well as two triennial, in-person conferences: The Conference for Writers and The Conference for Storytellers.
In her third and current professional iteration, her work revolves around stories.
As a memoirist on page and on stage, she chronicles her careers in medicine and television news and her unusual path to motherhood. In her first career, she was a neurologist in private practice and at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center with 15 years of patient care experience. In her second career, she delivered reports about health and wellness issues, outbreaks, screening recommendations, celebrity illnesses, and medical innovations as the Emmy and multi award-winning medical correspondent at KDKA-TV News | CBS Pittsburgh for 19 years. (Also available through Ironed Words: media interview and presentation prep for doctors!)
In addition to memoir, she primarily writes medical romance and Gen X romance under a pen name, Em S. A’cor. Her debut novel, Twitter Crush, was recognized as a fiction finalist by The Authors’ Zone in December 2023 and reached #8 on Amazon in the category of medical romance.
You can find her words in lit mags, on bookshelves, and on the live stages of Pittsburgh. If she’s not at her desk, she’ll be at writing group with a big cup of coffee and all the love for the writing community.
