Patti Neighmond
Award-winning journalist Patti Neighmond is NPR's health policy correspondent. Her reports air regularly on NPR newsmagazines All Things Considered, Morning Edition, and Weekend Edition.
Based in Los Angeles, Neighmond has covered health care policy since April 1987. She joined NPR's staff in 1981, covering local New York City news as well as the United Nations. In 1984, she became a producer for NPR's science unit and specialized in science and environmental issues.
Neighmond has earned a broad array of awards for her reporting. In 1993, she received the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award for coverage of health reform. That same year, she received the Robert F. Kennedy Award for a story on a young quadriplegic who convinced Georgia officials that she could live at home less expensively and more happily than in a nursing home. In 1990, Neighmond won the World Hunger Award for a story about healthcare and low-income children. She received two awards in 1989: a George Polk Award for her powerful ten-part series on AIDS patient Archie Harrison, who was taking the anti-viral drug AZT; and a Major Armstrong Award for her series on the Canadian health care system. The Population Institute, based in Washington, DC, has presented its radio documentary award to Neighmond twice: in 1988 for "Family Planning in India" and in 1984 for her coverage of overpopulation in Mexico. Her 1987 report "AIDS and Doctors" won the National Press Club Award for Consumer Journalism, and her two-part series on the aquaculture industry earned the 1986 American Association for the Advancement of Science Award.
Neighmond began her career in journalism in 1978, at the Pacifica Foundation's DC bureau, where she covered Capitol Hill and the White House. She began freelance reporting for NPR from New York City in 1980. Neighmond earned her bachelor's degree in English and drama from the University of Maryland, and now lives in Los Angeles.
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Many people are struggling with insomnia like never before. Specialists explain why these times put an extra strain on our ability to get needed rest — and what to do about it. -
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Earlier studies suggested that most people put the pounds back on, but a large study that followed people for a decade after bariatric surgery found that the vast majority avoided gaining weight.
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And they're not unplugging from email and text messages when they do get away, an NPR poll finds. "So they're taking their stress along with them wherever they go," says a Harvard scientist.
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A decade ago, the best that doctors could offer Alzheimer's patients and their families was an early diagnosis. Today, doctors have four medications to offer, but there's no agreement on how helpful those drugs are.
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When it comes to back pain, there are alternatives to surgery and prescriptions. Some doctors prescribe a combination of over-the-counter medications, exercise and pain-management techniques to get patients moving and pain-free.
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Health officials recommend adding vaccines for flu and rotavirus to the regimen of childhood immunizations. Rotavirus is the leading cause of severe diarrhea in infants and young children. Parents are objecting to the number of advised shots.
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Three studies of post-menopausal women show low-fat diets don't prevent heart disease, breast cancer or colon cancer. The report appears in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association. Two years ago, the same studies showed that hormone replacement therapy didn't prevent disease.
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Some doctors have hoped that heroin addicts could break the habit more easily if they were given a drug-blocking agent while under general anesthesia for about six hours. But a new study suggests this approach is more dangerous than other drug replacement therapies.
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Common skin cancers have more than tripled among young adults over the past decade. A study shows that the rising rates are due to increased exposure to ultraviolet light and ozone depletion in the atmosphere.
