Felice J. Freyer covers addiction, mental illness, and brain science for the Boston Globe, where she has been a staff writer for five years. Throughout that time she has chronicled the opioid crisis in Massachusetts, revealing the pitfalls in the treatment system, the efforts to address them, and the unintended consequences for pain patients. Previously, she was the medical writer for the Providence Journal in Rhode Island. Freyer is active in the 1,400-member Association of Health Care Journalists.and currently serves as its vice president.