John Cooper School alum Catherine Devore Johnson celebrates the release of her new novel

THE WOODLANDS, TX – A former student at The Woodlands-based John Cooper School earlier this week released her new novel. Catherine Devore Johnson was a Class of 1996 graduate, who then continued her studies at Yale University, earning a BA in History. From there, she returned to Texas and received her doctorate in jurisprudence from the University of Texas before she began practicing law.

Deciding to embrace a new career as a stay-at-home mother to her two children, Ethan and Lila, Catherine delved into expanding the writing skills she grew at the school and post-graduation. This led to her signing with an agent and writing two novels. The Panacea Project, a taut and timely medical thriller, is her second novel but the first to be published by Greenleaf Book Group Press.

“The Panacea Project tells the story of Calla Hammond. Her entire life, Calla has been a loner – a product of the foster system and avoided by others because of a skin condition. Everything changes when doctors discover that her immune system holds the key to curing cancer. Thrust into a limelight she never sought, Calla struggles to advance lifesaving research in a world that sees her only as a means to an end,” said Catherine in a recent interview with Shannon Terry Wiley. “Along the way, though, she gains the one thing she has always longed for: a chosen family. But when a group of unscrupulous people join forces to sell Calla’s blood to the highest bidder, she must dig deep to find the strength to retake control of her life, her body, and her story.”

The book was officially released on February 28 and is currently available in bookstores and online at amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and target.com.