[1] Prior to writing at Science, Piller was an associate editor at Macworld magazine[2] and wrote for the Los Angeles Times,[3] the STAT website,[4] and The Sacramento Bee.
[7] In July 2022, he authored an article in Science that investigated allegations of research fraud at Cassava Sciences in the development of the drug simufilam, and questioned the authenticity of images used in Sylvain Lesné's research on Alzheimer's disease; Lesné was formerly at the University of Minnesota Medical School.
[8][9][10][11] Along with Charles Lewis and Alejandro Benes, Piller was a founding member of the Center for Public Integrity, where he served as board chair.
[20][21] In 2014, the First Amendment Coalition honored him with the Free Speech & Open Government Award for his Sacramento Bee investigation of construction of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge that led to legislative changes in California to enhance "transparency and accountability".
[5] Evident Change (formerly the National Council on Crime & Delinquency) recognized Piller, along with Deborah Anderluh and Amy Pyle, for 2010 reporting at The Sacramento Bee on "CA Prisons: Behavior Modification Experiments and Suppression of Due Process".