Photo by Barry Myers

EDITORS: Click on the following links (1, 2) to download photos of Chef Will Simpkin for use with the Feb. 19 column. Credit Linda Davidson / The Washington Post.

Sally Squires is a nationally known, award-winning medical and health writer for The Washington Post, where she also writes the weekly column, the Lean Plate Club, dedicated to helping consumers instill healthy eating and exercise habits. Each Tuesday, she hosts the popular Lean Plate Club online web chat at washingtonpost.com and writes a weekly, e-mail Lean Plate Club newsletter, which reaches over 250,000 subscribers and has one of the highest interactivity rates on the Internet. Participants in the Lean Plate Club come not just from inside the Beltway, but from coast to coast and throughout the world, from Australia to Spain. Her most recent book, "Secrets of the Lean Plate Club," was published in 2006 by St. Martin's Press.

Squires holds two master’s degrees from Columbia University: one in journalism, the other in nutrition. Her articles have also appeared in numerous national publications including Woman’s Day, Modern Maturity, Parade and Reader’s Digest. Squires is also the co-author of "The Stoplight Diet for Children," a scientifically proven behavioral program that was developed at the University of Pittsburgh with support from the National Institutes of Health and is designed to help overweight children lose weight safely and keep it off for good. She is at work on a PBS television documentary about the last leprosy hospital in the United States, a project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities that features original music by Grammy Award winner Bela Fleck.

In 2004, Squires became the first journalist named an Honorary Fellow of the Society for Public Health Education, joining the ranks of former U.S. Surgeons General Drs. C. Everett Koop and David Satcher as well as other notables including Rosalyn Carter and Marian Wright Edelman. Her numerous other awards include: the American Heart Association’s Howard L. Lewis Lifetime Achievement Award, the North American Menopause Society Media Award; the Clarion Award from Women in Communications. She’s also been honored by the Maryland/ Delaware/ DC Press Association; the Virginia Press Association and is the recipient of the American Psychiatric Association's Robert T. Morse award. Squires is a two-time honoree of William Harvey Medical Writer's Award, is a recipient of the American Psychosomatic Society public service award and, with The Washington Post's Health section staff, has been honored four times with the Penney-Missouri award.